The Mummy

Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The Mummy 3 Quotes:&nbsp
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp EMPEROR:
I will restore order and crush the
scourge of freedom... &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp ZI YUAN:
Open the currents of justice and
the lost ways of honor. Bring down
the wrath of the oppressed on this
Emperor and all who follow him... &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp EMPEROR:
I will slaughter without mercy. I
will conquer without compassion...&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp ZI YUAN:
In the name of the ancestors and
the righteous, in the body of the
suffering, in the might of the one
true cause, I sacrifice my
immortality and that of my daughter
so that you may rise this day.&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp EMPEROR:
I have raised you for one purpose
and only one purpose: to enforce my
will on the entire world!&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp ZI YUAN:
I call upon the hundreds and the
thousands to rise up and seize this
moment, to take your victory, to
take your justice and to take your
revenge!

(05/01/09)The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was nominated as "Best Horror Film"
for the 35th Saturn Awards.

(02/05/09)
Photos from the 17th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibition,
FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) Museum & Galleries,
Los Angeles. Six sets of the M3 costumes, of Zi Yuan, Emperor Han,
and Lin are being displayed.
The exhibition runs from January 28 through Sunday, March 29, 2009.
(link)

left photo: costume designer Sanja Hays at the exhibit
(photos from "Ventura County Star" and "Flickr".
more photos)

(01/14/09)The Mummy 3 has been nominated for the Excellence in Fantasy Film at the 11th annual Costume Designers Guild awards.

(01/07/09)The Mummy 3 is on Oscars' shortlist for the Visual Effects category.
On January 15, members of the Academy's visual effects branch will be
viewing 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. 3 nominations
for the award will be announced on January 22.
(Official press release)

(12/11/08)Special features for the
two-disc DVD and blu-ray sets of The Mummy 3 with
a video clip. Features include deleted and extended footage, segments on casting, stunts and other behind-the-scenes matters and commentary with director Rob Cohen.
North American release date: December 16.

(11/14/08)The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will be screened on
November 22nd at 8th International Marrakech Film Festival. It is a
part of the special tribute to Michelle, "Timeless Female Heroine".
A total of 6 Michelle films will be screened and Michelle will be
there to receive the honor. For detailed schedule please see
News.

(10/14/08)
- Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced the technical specs
and special features for the upcoming two-disc Deluxe
Edition DVD and Blu-ray disk, to be released in
the U.S. on December 16. (press)

Disc 1

U-Control - Scene Explorer

U-Control - Know Your Mummy

U-Control - The Dragon Emperor's Challenge

U-Control - Picture in Picture

U-Control - Visual Commentary with Director Rob Cohen

Deleted and Extended Scenes

The Making of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

From City to Desert

Legacy of the Terra Cotta

Feature Commentary with Director Rob Cohen

BD Live - My Scenes Sharing
Exclusive Content
Disc 2

A Call to Action: The Casting Process

Preparing for Battle with Brendan Fraser and Jet Li

Jet Li: Crafting the Emperor Mummy

Creating New and Supernatural Worlds

Digital Copy of The Mummy: Tomb of the Emperor Dragon

- The U.K. Blu-ray/DVD release date is December 1st.

(09/22/08)
A special presentation by Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues Studios,
showing how they created the special effects and imagery for The Mummy 3,
will be held at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Hollywood, 6-9 p.m. October 2.
&nbsp (Details and RSVP)

(09/08/08)
The boxoffice total of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has reached
$355 million with the domestic total $100 million.
Michelle said she's very happy the film is doing well globally.
The film is to open in Australia, New Zealand, and Greece this Thursday
and in Italy on September 26.

- Trivia: Among the main Chinese cast, Jet Li is from Mainland China.
Michelle is ethnic Chinese who is a Malaysian.
Jessey Meng (Colonel Choi) is Taiwanese. Isabella Leong (Lin), Anthony Wong (General Yang)
and Russell Wong (Ming Guo) are all mixed raced. Leong's father is
Portuguese and her mother is Chinese. Anthony Wong (Chau-Sang)
was born to an English father and a Chinese mother. Russell Wong is
half Chinese, half Dutch.

(09/05/08)
Although the Chinese reviews of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
have been more negative than positive, the film played strong in Mainland China and the
first day box-office grossed $2 million at 1,158 screens.

Predictably, one of the big complaints is from the large crowd of fans of Jet Li and
Michelle Yeoh. Audiences were disappointed that their sword fight was so short and surprised
that it was choreographed more like ancient Roman gladiators rather than Chinese martial
artists. Another big complaint is the bad Chinese dubbing. Many audience members felt it
was like they were watching a Hong Kong TV series
when hearing the familiar voices from Hong Kong TVB. Only Jet Li's real voice
was kept, which made it more obvious that the other dubbed voices were
out of character.

It is still not clear what the mysterious last minute cut ordered by
Chinese authorities was all about. The China Film Bureau confirmed the cut
and they said it was a "technical problem" concerning some
copyright issue. But when reporters contacted various theatres,
the respond they got was: "We are not allowed to talk about it. It is a sensitive issue".
&nbsp Picture at right: "Cut. Cut. Cut". (Picture from "Nanfang Daily", a
Chinese newspaper which has been under great pressure for having reported
some human rights issues during the past few years. Several of their managers
and chief editors have been replaced/arrested.)

(09/02/08)
- For those who have read the script or the movie tie-in novel of
The Mummy 3, you may remember the description of this scene:
when the foundation army turned into sand dust, the wind blew them into the
sky and they formed the faces of Zi Yuan and Ming Guo. This scene was actually
shown in some versions of the film, at least it was in the ones in Taiwan, Malaysia,
and Macau. (see image at left. thanks to Bin!)
But it is not in the U.S. final version. Apparently there are multiple
versions of the film, in addition to the Chinese cut.

- Talking about the Chinese cut, just a few hours before the midnight opening
in Mainland China on September 1, after Chinese theaters had received
the "final" copy, an urgent order came from a high official. Theatre managers
were ordered to make one more cut themselves before showing the
film to the audience. The portion which were required to be cut involved
the end credits, which include the last 5 minutes of rolling credits,
and also the special slice of the cast credits where Isabella Leong's name
appears. Theatres were requested to keep quiet on this urgent cut
and the cut portions (about 250 meters) had to be handed in to the
authority.
No further explanation has been offered. It is believed that the problem was
not about the credits themselves but about the background pictures which had some
Chinese characters in them (as the Mainland version was more specifically modified for their audiences, the cut that was ordered might not appear in other international released versions).

Among the changes made to the Mainland Chinese version, the roars of
"Freedom! Freedom!" from Zi Yuan's army of undead has become "War! War!"
The film was counted as co-production film instead of imported film.
The dubbed voices were from TV actors from Hong Kong's TVB.

- After Tussaud Wax Museum in Hong Kong received one of Zi Yuan's
gowns, Universal Pictures International provided another of the (same)
gowns to the Tussaud Wax Museum in Shanghai, which was opened in June 2006.
Photo at left: Michelle's wax figure at Tussaud Wax Museum Shanghai.
("Sohu" photo)

The Chinese premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor took
place at the Shanghai Film Art Center, Shanghai. A press conference was
held in the afternoon, with Jet Li and representatives from the Chinese
production and distribution companies in attendance. Jet Li talked
more about the One Foundation than the film itself. Reporters were
disappointed that Michelle did not make it to the press conference
(her plane was delayed) but happily they had chance to meet with her
that evening at the premiere.

Michelle said her role in The Mummy 3 is not big but very interesting.
The fights were very easy for both of them. When the director gave
them several hours for rehearsal, they were done in an hour.
Jet Li said he had a great time working with Michelle and he hopes
they will have more chances to work together.

Both praised the Chinese team for their hard work and efficiency.
Jet Li said director Rob Cohen was surprised how efficient the Chinese
team was. Chinese crew members never said no to whatever request they
received, even it might have meant a few hundred or thousand of crew
had to sacrifice their rest time in order to finish the job, which
would never happen in the U.S. or Canada.
Michelle mentioned that in Montreal, when they asked for set decorations,
they were usually told it would take 10 or 15 days. But in China, the
response for the same type of request was: do you need it before or
after the lunch?
And Michelle brought a message from Rob Cohen: "The director asked me
to thank all Chinese crew members and all audience here today for him."

(08/28/08)
On August 27, Brendan Fraser and Luke Ford attended the Australian
premier of the film in Sydney, Australia.

(08/27/08)
The Chinese dubbed version of The Mummy 3 has been screened for
local distributors and press in several cities. Jet Li's role, originally modeled
after China's Emperor Qin,
who was called simply "Emperor" in the final international version
after several changes, has now become "Qiu Wang" (Autumn King) in the Chinese
version.
There haven't been any reports on what has been cut and what lines have been
changed. Some media reports criticized the Chinese voice dubbing (not
by any of the real actors)
that they were plain, non-emotional, and the voices for the O'Connell father and
son sounded identical. The theatrical release of the film in Mainland
China is scheduled for September 2nd. Meanwhile, there have been multiple online pirated
versions of the film available, including high quality ones.

On the 26th, Jet Li was in Guangzhou city and attended a M3 related press conference.
The Chinese M3 distributor promised that for each Mummy 3 ticket sold they
will donate 10 Chinese cents (1.46 US cents) to Li's charity
One Foundation.
Jet Li emphasized to the media that this is a commercial, entertaining film
and he hopes the Chinese audiences will not focus on history and culture issues.
When reporters commented that Jet Li had even fewer fights in the film than Isabella Leong's
character, Li half joked that everyone in the film had more fights than he did.
Asked about his impression of Isabella Leong, he said he basically did
not share any scenes with her, really only one scene from a distance.

(08/24/08)
Jet Li will be in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China on the 26th for the Mummy 3 promotion.
It's not clear whether Michelle or other Chinese actors will be there.

Although during recent years, most of the Hollywood films have been shown in Mainland China in both
Chinese-dubbed and original English language versions, reportedly The Mummy 3 will have
only the Chinese version shown in the Mainland theatres (the pirate versions are in the original language
with Chinese subtitles). The Chinese version has some scenes cut and dialog changes made on Chinese authority's
demand. There is no report whether any Chinese actors will dub their own voices. I assume Jet Li's real voice will
be kept since he spoke only Mandarin Chinese in the film.

(08/20/08)
The Chinese premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is scheduled to take place
in Shanghai, China on August 28. Shanghai news reported that Michelle and Jet Li will be attending.
&nbsp (tickets)

(08/14/08)

The first photo is a promotional image published by Taiwanese media and it features
(L to R) Maria Bello, Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Isabella Leong, and Michelle.
The othree three, with Michelle and Isabella Leong, were from a press interview in Japan
on August 4. (photos from "UIP" and "Mainichi")&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Watch the Interview
&nbsp (05:26, Japanese subtitles)In the interview Michelle spoke English and Isabella Leong Cantonese. In the middle
Brendan Fraser jumped in.

More video clips from Japanese premiere and press conference can be seen from the
Japanese Official Site.
Enter "Japan Premiere" and each "Click!" contains 4 video clips. The film opens
in Japan on August 16.

(08/12/08)
While The Mummy 3 is not playing very strong in North America,
it continues to top the international box office, finishing No.1
in 16 of 22 new territories which opened last weekend, including France,
Germany, U.K. and Taiwan. The overseas tally is now $141.1 million,
almost a double of the domestic total ($71 million).
In Taiwan, the film collected $3.6 million from just 91 locations for
an amazing per-screen average of $39,560. The Taiwan premiere took
place on August 6th with Jessey Meng, the Taiwanese model who played the
scar-faced Colonel Choi in the film in attendance.

In Mainland China, reportedly the release date has been moved
forward to the beginning of September. I have been reading some Chinese movie discussion boards
(many of the Chinese audience have watched the film from pirate sources) and
not so surprisingly, many posts showed anger toward the film - the posters
claimed the "foreign filmmakers" did not know Chinese history and angry about China's
Emperor Qin being portrayed as an evil figure.
Here I'd like to point out in China, the internet "voices" by no means reflect
what the majority of Chinese people think. First, a large number of internet users are young people who grew
up under the Chinese communist government's "education". Second, the internet in
China is totally controlled by the government. Many posts can not get published
(blocked by the "filters") or get deleted soon after posting. Two examples from my own
recent experience: Once I was trying to post the Chinese text of Zi Yuan and Emperor's lines when
they were calling their armies to battle. It kept getting rejected because
it contains the message on "freedom". And after the opening ceremony of the Olympics,
I was reading what Mainland Chinese thought about the event and
discovered that all the negative
posts were disappearing under my eyes (saw the subjects but they disappeared
when I tried to click to read)!

(08/09/08)
Video:
Highlights from the Japanese press conference &nbsp
Aug. 5 &nbsp (06:07, in Japanese and English) &nbsp (thanks Sako from Japan!).
Isabella Leong, Brendan Fraser, and Michelle greeted everyone in
Japanese. The video also shows Manami Kurose singing, Michelle
being presented with the birthday surprise, and the funny bit on Michelle
stopping Fraser from keeping "stealing" icing from the cake.
More photos from the event can be seen at News.

(08/05/08)
On August 5th, a press conference was held in Tokyo for the Mummy 3
promotion. A birthday cake was presented to Michelle during the news
conference, a day prior to her birthday (August 6).
Japanese actress and singer Manami Kurose, who performs the Japanese
version of the end title song for the film (Japanese title: "Hamunaputora 3"),
sang "happy birthday" for Michelle.
The cake was decorated with an image of the "Eye of Shangri-La".

- The Mummy 3 took the top spot at the foreign box office during
the opening weekend, landing No. 1 in 26 of its 28 markets, including
Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Spain, and Mexico.
Grossing an estimated $59.5 million, the film substantially outpaced comparable
openings for the first two Mummy films in the same markets ("The
Mummy" $16.7 million and "The Mummy Returns" $21.5 million).
It opened No. 2 in North America, grossing $40.5 million,
which brought worldwide weekend tally $100 million.

In Mainland China, the release date has been postponed to September 24th.
The filmmakers have to make the changes demanded by the Chinese authority
before the film can be shown to the Chinese audience. However, now the
online movie links to the pirate versions of The Mummy 3 are
everywhere and from Chinese movie discussion boards we can see that
MANY people have already watched it and even written their reviews
based on the bad quality pirate versions.

- Taking advantage of the new big screen pairing of Jet Li and Michelle,
Dragon Dynasty re-released the DVD of Tai Chi Master, a fantastic 1993
Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jet and Michelle. The film
was previously released on DVD in the US by Miramax under
the title Twin Warriors, but with some dialogue changes and scene
cuts, and the music was rewritten. The Dragon Dynasty version includes
both the original Cantonese soundtrack (subtitled) and an optional English dubbing.
Order Tai Chi Master DVD from Amazon

(08/01/08)
- Michelle is in Tokyo now. The Japanese premiere of The Mummy 3
will be held in Tokyo on August 4th.

- Hong Kong premiere of The Mummy 3 took place on July 29th. Anthony Wong
and Jessey Meng, who play General Yang and Colonel Choi in the film,
attended the event ("Sina" photo).
The film opens in Hong Kong on July 31st.

- Reportedly the release date for Mainland China is tentatively
scheduled on September 24th.

(07/27/08)
- Photos from San Diego Comic-Con, July 26. Right photo: main cast members at San Diego Comic-Con (from right to left) -
Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, Michelle Yeoh, John Hannah, Luke Ford and Isabella Leong. They showed a new clip of the Yetis from
the film and took questions from the audience.
(report)

(07/26/08)
Video: Making of The Mummy 3
&nbsp part I (09:15)
&nbsp part II (10:45)The video contains tons of behind the scenes footage as well as interviews of the
key cast and crew members.
Also the Official Site has some new clips.

(07/24/08)The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor premiered (world premiere?)
in Moscow, Russia on July 24th. Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li,
and Michelle attended the event. The film will open in Russian cinemas
on July 31st.

(07/24/08)M3 Production Notes &nbsp (doc document. 56 pages.
thanks Denzylle)The production notes contain information on making the story,
casting of the film, 91 days of filming on two continents, production design,
swordplay and martial arts, VFX, and bios of cast and crew. In the custume design
part, it mentions that one of Isabella Leong's outfits was inspired by
Tibetan national costumes. The designer created nine beautiful costumes
for Michelle, designs not exactly determined by the period since her
role is as a sorceress. "When Michelle put them on, they became
alive. She is so graceful and wears the costume so beautifully. The
way she moves and holds her neck... she almost floats," said the designer Sanja
Hays. Hays also recounted the making of Michelle's costume for her
final sword fight: "It was for the big sword fight with Jet Li where
she wears a pleated skirt. I bought a knee-length skirt for myself in
Shanghai; I swirled in it, and the way it moved was amazing. We made
it in a long version, and one of the girls here, Malika, went through
hell trying to figure out how they did it. Everything was
hand-pleated, but we finally figured it out. The skirt is very
straight when Michelle is standing, but when she kicks, fights and
swirls in it, it flies out in a full circle. I can't wait to see it
on screen."

(07/23/08)
News photos from a media photocall for the Mummy promotion, Berlin, July 23rd.

Michelle with Maria Bello during the photocall(photos from "WireImage", "Time Wrap" and "AP")

(07/23/08)
- The U.S. premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will
take place on Sunday July 27 at Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal Studios Hollywood.
Director, producers, screenwriters and all main stars - Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello,
John Hannah, Russell Wong, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong and Michelle - are scheduled
to attend.
(Press release)

- Last week from the 15th to 18th, there were several press junkets for the M3
promotion in Los Angeles. A special screening for the press was held on the 17th.
Michelle and Jet Li accepted multiple interviews. Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello,
Luke Ford and Isabella Leong also attended some of the junkets.

Michelle, Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello and Jet Li at M3 press
conferenceat Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, July 15
(photos from "WireImage". More photos see News july 23)

(07/22/08)
- Five new M3 clips can be seen at ShockTillYouDrop.
Clip#2 features Michelle and Jet Li's sword fight.

- New poster and M3 promotional images ("Mingpao" and "IGN"):

Poster

SorceressZi Yuan (HQ)

Michelle (R) and Isabella Leong

Maria Bello, Brendan Fraser, Isabella Leong, Michelle, and Jet Li

General Ming Guo

Zi Yuan & Ming Guo

Zi Yuan

Emperor & Zi Yuan

Ming Guo & Emperor

Zi Yuan in Shangri-La

Terra-cotta warriors

Rick & Evelyn with Foundation army

Lin facing the three-head-dragon

General Yang vs Yeti

Alex & Lin

Rick & Evelyn discuss artifacts with Benjamin Fry

Rick & Evelyn O'Connell, Jonathan Carnahan

- After Universal agreed to make all the cuts and changes demanded by the
Chinese authority, The Mummy 3 has obtained permission for the film to
be released in Mainland China. The Chinese distributor said the changes
will be minor and the fluency of the film story should not be affected.
Reportedly the requested cuts/changes include scenes which reflect
the cruelty of the evil emperor, such as killing slavery workers
during building the Great Wall and "Che Lie" of General Guo.
Currently there is no release date set for China.
The common guess is that it will be sometime after the
Olympics, no earlier than late August.

Note that obtaining release permission may not guarentee a theatrical
release of the film in China. Sony's
Memoir of a Geisha, starring Zhang Ziyi,
Gong Li and Michelle, was denied a public release despite the film having been
approved by the authority in November 2005. China's political situation is
unstable. Things such as policy change, additional rules, decisions being
turned over, etc., are not a surprise and can affect release.

(07/12/08)[Notice] I'm going for a trip and most likely
I won't have time to update the site before July 22nd.

Yesterday Brendan Fraser appeared at Universal Studios Orlando's Revenge of the Mummy for M3 promotion.
Press junkets will be held next week in LA with main stars attending.

(07/11/08)
In January 2001, Michelle's wax double was unveiled at the Madame
Tussaud Wax Museum in Hong Kong.
The statue had been dressed in a Wai Lin gown for 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies(see photos of the wax double).
Now the museum has changed it to one of Zi Yuan's gowns from The Mummy 3,
donated by Universal Pictures International. A M3 trailer is being
played next to the wax statue.

(photos from "Sun", "Mingpao" and "CNA")

(07/11/08)
After playing a lot of "guessing games", the Chinese media has finally
gotten a confirmation that the Mummy 3 will not be released in
Mainland China as scheduled, originally set to come out on July
29th. The Chinese authorities demanded certain changes to the film. No
details have been given to the public, nor a possible release date.

Although the M3 filmmakers tried not to make any political statement in the film, they may not realize
that the Chinese communist government is very paranoid. If they see a
portrayed villain has similar characteristics as they do, they would
think you are referring to them. Mummy heroes defeating the tyrannical Emperor who
crushes the people's freedom -- I'd be quite surprised if the Chinese authorities allowed this theme to go
into China smoothly.

(07/08/08)
A movie tie-in novel,
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,
was released on July 1st. Written by by Max Allan Collins, the novel
is based on the screenplays by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and with
no access to the actual film. Comparing it to the screenplay version
from July 3, 2007, I noticed some minor changes and a few scenes left out of the script:
&nbsp&nbsp 1. no battle between Zi Yuan (Michelle) and General Yang (Anthony Wong)
&nbsp&nbsp 2. no sword fight between the emperor (Jet Li) and General Ming Gao (Russell Wong)
&nbsp&nbsp 3. no appearance of General Yang's father
&nbsp&nbsp 4. added a scene between General Yang (Anthony Wong) and Colonel Choi (Jessey Meng)
The emperor character in the book is "Er Shi Huangdi", aka Qin Er Shi,
the second as well as the last emperor of the Qin Dynasty
(see a background story at 01/04/08).
We knew already that originally it was meant to be Qin Shi Huang,
the first Qin Emperor, but since Chinese authorities did not like the
idea, the production company had to change the name several times and it
will be Emperor Han in the film.

The third installment of the Mummy series will change the story/location
from Egypt to China. NBC Universal even tried to tie the film up
with the Beijing Olympics in their promotion. Ironically, the film
may have to be delayed in Mainland China because of the Olympics event.
Reportedly Chinese authorities don't think the film will fit with the
Olympics so they postponed the censor procedure until after the event.
At this moment, it is not clear if the film will be able to be shown in
China at all. Even if the authorities don't give filmmakers too much trouble
and eventually give it permission for release, by that time most
of Chinese audience who wanted to see the film would have already seen it from bootleg sources.

(07/08/08)
The sound track of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is expected to be released on
July 29 by Varese Sarabande records.

(06/30/08)
- A new behind-scenes video, "A Look Inside", is available at
Papa John's.
- Papa John's M3 pizza boxes
- Mummy 3 official website
has some new features up.
- "Ain't it Cool" has two reviews on the two recent test screenings in
California (contain spoilers):
12&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp I heard that Michelle narrated the prologue of the film.
- M3 posters: South Korea, Germany, France and Taiwan:

(06/29/08)[AN UPDATE TO NOTICE from June 3]
First, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been concerned about
my friend Wen in China, regardless of whether you have written to me.
After a month... &nbsp Read more...

(06/27/08)
The summer issue of the French magazine "L'Ecran Fantastique"
will have a special feature on the film including new interviews of
Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and Michelle.
(cover pic)

(06/25/08)
- The official pictorial moviebook, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", will be published
by Newmarket Press on August 1st, same day as the theatrical release
in the U.S.. 160 pages,
paperback and
hardcover.

- Posters for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan have been added to the
M3 Posters section.
The title of "The Mummy" has been translated into three different
Chinese titles in three different regions of China: "Shen Gui Chuan Qi" in Taiwan,
"Dao Mu Mi Cheng" in Hong Kong, and "Mu Nai Yi" in Mainland China.

- Reportedly, the film has been facing some difficulties getting the Chinese
authorities' approval. The original plan of releasing the film in Asia a week ahead - especially
in Mainland China - had to be changed. The new release date for Hong Kong is now July
31st and for Taiwan August 7th.
There is no official word about the release date in Mainland China. Rumors
say that Chinese authorities think some of the material in the film does
not fit with the current "rules" of censorship, especially during the
"sensitive" Olympic period. Chinese media have guessed this film eventually should be
able to pass the censorship and get a release permit, but with some delays.
The release date in Malaysia is July 31 and Japan is August 16.

(06/23/08)The Mummy 3 display/posters. The first three are photos of a huge M3 display at
this year's Cinema Expo in Amsterdam.

(06/17/08)
Director Rob Cohen updated us the process of the M3 post-production in his
production blog.
The film will be 1 hour and 54 minutes. A full trailer is coming out June 27th.

(06/17/08)
The novel written by Max Allan Collins, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor",
which is based on the screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, will
be published by Berkley on July 1st. 256 pages.
(pre-order
&nbsp ISBN: 0425223132, 978-0425223130)Image at left: book cover.

(06/15/08)
An interesting interview with director Rob Cohen:
Conversation: The Mummy Rises Again(thanks Denzylle)Cohen talked about his love for Chinese culture, how they
interpolated Chinese history and archaeology, their works including
re-creating the tomb, 500 replicas of terracotta warriors (with extra
weapons in their hands: crossbows, halberds, pikes, and swords),
horses and chariots. Rob Cohen confirmed that the villain in M3 is
indeed tyrannical Qin Shihuang (aka Qin Shihuangdi), the first Qin
emperor, but, "we're not allowed to say this is based on Qin
Shihuangdi," said Cohen.
(for related earleir reports please see 01/04/08
and 07/27/07)

In another interview, director Cohen confirmed several lines of
dialogue relating to the imperialistic ambitions of the emperor had to
be changed at the behest of Chinese authorities, according to "Screen
Daily". The film is currently going through the official screenings
required for a Chinese release. China's "Information Times" reported
that there might be a chance that The Mummy 3 will hit cinemas in
Mainland China on August 1st.

(06/12/08)
A press junket for The Mummy 3 is currently scheduled for July 14-15
in Los Angeles. Rob Cohen, Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Luke Ford, Jet
Li, and Michelle are all scheduled to attend.

Still in post-production, the film has not yet been rated. The North American
release date is August 1 and it is expected to open at 3750 plus locations.
Originally the film company had planned the world opening of the film
to take place in China on July 24. At this moment it is not clear if
it can go as planned. The Mummy 3
is not shown on China's current summer release list. Meanwhile, the film
will open in other Asian territories such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
Singapore on July 24/25 and Malaysia on July 31.

(06/03/08)[NOTICE] I'm sorry to announce that I may not have time to update this site for several days, or even longer.
I just learned terrible news from China. Read more...

(06/02/08)
- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is scheduled to open
on July 25 in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, a week ahead of the US release.
Currently there is no release date announced for Mainland China. It is
not clear if the film has been "approved" by the Chinese authority.

- A report from the press interviews in LA on May 15th. Universal arranged
meetings with Michelle, Maria Bello, and Isabella Leong.

Michelle told reporters that one of the main reasons she got interested in the project
is that she would have martial art fights with Jet Li. Director Rob Cohen sent
her a very warm invitation letter and actor Vin Diesel, who worked with Rob Cohen
before and was filming Babylon A.D. with
Michelle at the time, said the director is easy to work with. So she agreed to star.
Michelle praised Rob Cohen's passion for Chinese culture. And she said
he is very willing to listen to other's opinions. Before the shooting began,
she gave some suggestions to the director and they were all accepted.

The filming of the battle with Jet Li went smoothly. The important part
was to show emotions during the fight, said Michelle. The most
difficult part came from the costumes. Those costumes and ornaments
may look magnificent, but they were very heavy. To make the costumes
swing during the fight was not any easier than handling the weapons. Michelle
said with a smile that other actors envied her for having more costumes and
having the most beautiful costumes in the film. Luckily this time she did
not get injured, although one time was almost too close. During one fight sequence,
Jet Li's sword almost cut her nose and fortunately she moved away
fast enough.

Isabella Leong said it was her first Hollywood film and she was very
nervous during the screen tests. She said she actually failed during the
first try. Luckily for her the director give her second chance. She trained very hard
for the action scenes and many people helped her. She was relieved that
the director arranged stunt doubles for some of the more difficult movements.
Another big challenge for her was English. She said Luke Ford was very
patient with her. Isabella Leong said Michelle was her real model
and she has learned a lot from Michelle. She said she was very touched
by Michelle for her caring and help. Leong said it is a pity she did
not have many scenes with Jet Li.

Maria Bello said she always wanted to play an action role and The
Mummy 3 fulfilled her dream. She was very excited. She did not
have experience in action films, but she really enjoyed practicing
martial arts and sword fighting. She said one unforgettable
shot was during the filming of a scene of her and Brendan Fraser
fighting with six Terra-cotta warriors. Since those were
special effect shots, they were actually filmed in front of a green screen
and "fighting" with imaginary opponents. It was her first experience
with green screen filming and she could not hold back her laughs. They
ended having to repeat the shot many times. She said Brendan Fraser
was nice, patient, and always in high spirits.
Bello said since the characters are supposed to be more than 10 years older
than in the previous Mummy, it should not be surprising for the
actress change.

(05/16/08)
On Thursday May 15th, the three female leads of The Mummy 3, Michelle, Maria Bello,
and Isabella Leong accepted press interviews at Casa Del Mar Hotel on the Santa
Monica beach. From 11:00am to 4:00pm, each of them met with groups of journalists
from areas including Hong Kong, Italy, and Germany.

- Here are some new images. The first one is a new poster. 2nd one is
the M3 teaser poster on a building in Cannes during the Cannes Film Festival.

("Universal Pictures" and "Sina")

(05/14/08)
A M3 teaser trailer will debut in U.S. theaters this Friday with
prints of Prince Caspian, and will make the international debut
on May 22th with prints of Indiana Jones 4. Fans can also enjoy it online
at Rob Cohen's blog
this Friday.

The upcoming new deluxe edition DVD and Blu-ray release of The Mummy,
due to hit store shelves in July, will include a sneak peak
and a ticket offer for The Mummy 3.

(05/10/08)
Hong Kong media reported that Michelle and Isabella Leong will be in Santa Monica, California
this coming Thursday for The Mummy 3 publicity and they will accept press interviews.
Director Rob Cohen was in Hong Kong a couple of days ago and he met with several Chinese media.
(05/08/08)
Sierra Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based game developer and publisher,
has announced its plans to release "The Mummy: Tomb of
the Dragon Emperor", a video game adaptation of The Mummy 3
film, on July 22nd in North America.

Players will take on the role of Rick O'Connell and his son Alex.
Voice talent includes Brendan Fraser, Luke Ford, John Hannah and Michelle.
The game is currently in development for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and
Nintendo DS, featuring the locations of the film from the Chinese catacombs
to the Himalayan peaks, with action as well as puzzle solving and hieroglyphic
decoding gameplay elements.

(05/07/08)
Media reported director Rob Cohen told "Heat" (U.K. magazine)
that actress Rachel Weisz turned down the role of
Evelyn in The Mummy 3 because the character was "too old":
"I got a very angry phone call from her agent, saying she'll never
play the mother of a 21-year-old. I said, 'OK, good, fine, bye.'"
The role has been replaced by Maria Bello.

(05/01/08)
Universal's official site for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
is up at www.TheMummy.com. So they have decided to
call the evil character "Han Emperor" (for previous related reports see
01/04/08 and 07/27/07).

(04/30/08)
Director Rob Cohen has relaunched his newly designed website
RobCohentheMummy.com.
Here are some new production photos and concept art drawings:

Michelle, Isabella Leong, and director Rob Cohenon the Shangri-La set

library in monastery /depository of manuscripts

underground astrolab

undead warrior

(04/29/08)
Official teaser poster (click on image to see HQ version).
Director Rob Cohen
said he will go to London on May 27 to record Randy Edelman's score with the London
Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road, including traditional Chinese
instruments, traditional Tibetan instruments, a choir, Buddhist monk
chanters, and koto drum percussion.

(04/14/08)
Quotes from the M3 script, July 3 2007.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp EMPEROR:
I will restore order and crush the
scourge of freedom... &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp ZI YUAN:
Open the currents of justice and
the lost ways of honor. Bring down
the wrath of the oppressed on this
Emperor and all who follow him... &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp EMPEROR:
I will slaughter without mercy. I
will conquer without compassion...&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp ZI YUAN:
I call upon the hundreds and the
thousands to rise up and seize this
moment, to take your victory, to
take your justice and to take your
revenge!

(03/24/08)
In the new update on
The official blog,
director Rob Cohen said Michelle will arrive in the U.S. tomorrow for the M3
sound dubbing. A trailer can be expected soon.

(03/17/08)
- Some newly released M3 production photos.

- "JoBlo" reported that a teaser trailer was shown on the ShoWest:

"A quick shot of the Great Wall of China. Brendan Fraser and crew are on an archaeological dig in China. They walk into a room full of stone statues. They talk about The Dragon Emperor and how he was cursed by his enemies and turned into a mummy of stone. Fraser accidentally sets something off that awakens the Dragon Emperor and he comes breaking out of his rockness and charging out of the tomb.

Everything afterwards came at us real fast but I swear I saw a Yeti in there somewhere and at the end there was an extended shot of a three-headed dragon creature who didn't look too happy. There was a 300-like shot of a mass of arrows coming down from the sky on some poor saps. Fraser and his son in the movie exchanging some banter and quick glimpses of Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li in action."

(03/12/08)
Another poster of The Mummy 3 from the ShoWest 2008.
("Comingsoon.net")

(03/11/08)
Actress Maria Bello revealed that she has signed for three more sequels in
Universal's Mummy franchise. Last week Luke Ford told Australian
media there is a possibility for a spin-off of his Alex O'Connell
character.

(03/11/08)
Video: A night filming in Hengdian[00:59]&nbsp
They were shooting one of the ancient time scenes, perhaps Dragon Emperor's
army taking over the State of Chu.

Here are several good quality set photos from Hengdian. The first one
was taken during the actual filming last November. The rest were taken in early
December and you can see the unique M3 designs/decorations to the
palace. The second one is the entrance pass to the Throne Room.
(photos by fergusthompson and kanegen)

(03/09/08)
A teaser poster of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, displayed at the ShoWest 2008.

(02/19/08)
New video:
Editing M3Director Rob Cohen updated the
The official blog
yesterday. He said a teaser trailer can be expected within a month. The
current version runs 125 minutes and the first studio screening is
planned for February 28th. The VFX shots still need a lot of work.

(01/18/08)
- Malaysian New Straits Times
published an interview with Brendan Fraser. Asked if he had to learn any new skills for
the Asian setting movie, Fraser said: "Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh are starring in this
film and the latter can kick an apple off my head. There is a more fluid style to this
film because of the martial arts. Rick is not part of that school....
Rob suggested I study at the National Training Center in LA where they train in a combat
self defense system called Krav Magra." Talking about Rick's "new wife" Fraser said
"I don't want to give the joke away but I can promise you a brand new Evie."

- Some photos from the Montreal filming:

1. Producer Bob Ducsay (left) and director Rob Cohen on the set of an underground chamber
2. Jet Li's Emperor in the chamber
3. a view of the Montreal filming set
(photos from "NST", "3M" and jetli.com)

(01/13/08)
More shots from the Xingjiang shooting, November 22 - 23. In the first two photos
we can see the head eunuch Li Zhou (in black), Ming Guo (double) and Zi Yuan (double).
("Tianshan net" photos)

(01/04/08)
I've got a Chinese translation of the M3 script which version
is dated July 3, 2007. This may or may not be the actual shooting
script but it should be quite close to the final one. The production
started on July 26 last year in Montreal and wrapped up in China
a month ago.

In the script the Emperor became
Qin Er Shi,
the second as well as the last emperor of the Qin Dynasty. In real Chinese history
Qin Er Shi was the 26th son of Qin Shi Huang and a puppet emperor after his
father's sudden death.
He was under the control of chief eunuch Zhao Gao during his less than
three years of rule (210BC - 207BC) before his life and the
tyrannical Qin Dynasty were removed. There are different counts for the age
when he died, some say in his early 20's and others say he was only 15.
In the early version(s) of the M3 scripts the Dragon Emperor was
Qin Shi Huang. At some point it became Emperor Han. Apparently they
kept changing the identity of the character
in order to avoid the Chinese authority's complaints.
(see report of July 27)
It was not fixed even after the production started.
We do not know what identity the Dragon Emperor will take
in the final cut. But one thing we can be sure is that the
set design for ancient part of the story is from Qin Dynasty.

A large portion of Jet Li's character will require some assistance through special effects,
like when the character is covered in clay or takes beast forms, for example.

Since this is an adventure of the O'Connell family, we can expect
Michelle wouldn't have the most screen time. We probably will miss
her for half of the movie. However, the Zi Yuan character
is my favorite from the script. As we already know, she appears in both
the ancient period and modern times, in two different character designs.
I like seeing Michelle as a symbol of fighting for justice.
And I like this theme of the film - that the tyrannical regime must
be dissolved, miseries must end, and freedom must be triumphant
- something which is only too real for today's China. (Although the
production team had been in China for more than two months, many
of them may not aware what's really going on in the country.
It is hard for foreigners to really know the place where the
government carefully hides things from international society
and people are afraid of talking about any "sensitive issues"...)

In this version, Zi Yuan's creation of "pools of eternal life"
was removed. That's too bad. I really liked that part from the earlier
scripts. Hope the production company might consider making a spin-off for
the character. With topics on China getting hotter and hotter,
they can certainly make interesting movie(s) - with 2000 years
of civilization to be covered!

Based on this version of July 3, the library built inside the
Shanghai Film Studio should not be the Emperor's library (see report of
11/23/07) but is actually the interior set of the ancient depository of
manuscripts (the exterior scenes were filmed in Xinjiang). Also,
there is no appearance of Jet Li's character's father (see 07/18/07)
[minor spoiler warnings til end of the paragraph]
but there will be a short scene of Anthony Wong's character's father.
Michelle will have a fight with Anthony Wong.
Jessey Meng's character will have some fights as well.
Some of you may have read some early versions of the script or "ISEB"'s
story sketch based on the version dated March 19. Here are a few obvious
changes:
1. the India or Hamunaptra scenes were deleted and they added London scenes (filmed in Canada)
2. no back story on Alex
3. no flashback on how the pools of eternal life were created
4. Lin has a better and bigger reason to become mortal
5. Jonathan Carnahan gives out where the next possible Mummy story will
take place

I've also seen a detailed story summary (in Chinese) which is slightly
different from the script mentioned above. It's not dated but should
be based on a version later than March 2007.

(01/01/08)
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Here we have some more photos from the M3 production. The first one is an official release, perhaps shot in Montreal.

(12/28/07)
Taiwanese model Jessey Meng said her role in The Mummy 3 is as an adjutant in
General Yang (Anthony Wong)'s army. She said initially she rejected Rob Cohen's
invitation since her role in the script was very small. It required her to be on
set for two months but she would only have about 5 minutes of screen time. Later
the director talked to her through phone calls and e-mails, and convinced her to join the
production. He even added several scenes for Meng including a relationship of some kind
with Anthony Wong.

(12/23/07)HAPPYHOLIDAYS! "Wow!... a visit to a magical Shangri-la!" - Performing Arts Insider&nbsp &nbsp
For anyone who is interested in traditional Chinese culture, I highly recommend
the upcoming Holiday Wonders and Chinese New Year Spectacular.
Featuring traditional dance, music, song, martial arts, mini-dramas, etc., it's a
showcase of China's rich cultural past.
The global tour will be in more than 65 cities around the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and
Australia. Don't miss the world's largest Chinese New Year live-stage celebration!
Let the show take you back 5000 years into ancient China in two of the
most memorable hours of your life. Visit
www.BestChineseShows.com
for information on the show & ticketing.

(12/17/07)
"PopPhoto" has an interview with Jasin Boland,
the still photographer for The Mummy 3. He mentioned some of his M3
experience, including creating some shots trying to pick up the flash
from a gun. He went out with Brendan Fraser, a few
weapons, 250 rounds of ammunition, and a couple of Nikons. "The
images are so cool, and closer to the release of the film, you should
see those shots everywhere." He also talked about how relieved he was
once he was able to retrieve a series of files from a card
error. "The shots were a series of specials on Michelle Yeoh and to
lose them would have been devastating and the studio would have gone
nuts," said Boland.

(12/09/07)
"Michelle Yeoh should be made Queen of the World. If so, I would be a monarchist.
What an elegant woman! She is a light being. She glows from within, even in sunlight."
- from Director Rob Cohen's Mummy Blog(updates on December 8). Visit the blog for more.

(12/03/07)
Onstage at IMHOTEPS night club, they filmed a "live
performance" with 26 year old American Chinese rock singer Helen Feng,
who plays a singer in 1940s Shanghai. The jazz band "played" their
instruments soundlessly. With the music from her wireless headphones, Feng
performed a song entitled "Forever Love" (translated title) which is
also the end title song for the film. Reportedly the lyrics were written
by director Rob Cohen. They did the recording and filmed the
performance at the same time. It took only about 15 minutes.
("CE" photos)

Although the principal filming has wrapped, reportedly the M3 team
has still been filming some scenes including more horse work.

(11/30/07)The Mummy 3 has completed its filming in Shanghai in the morning
of November 30th.
The last scene filmed was a big party inside a luxurious night club in 1940s
Shanghai: Luke Ford and Isabella Leong. Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello.
There were about 80 westerners and a dozen Chinese guests, all dressed
for holiday. At one point director Rob Cohen and his wife joined
the dances on the dance floor...

(11/30/07)
More photos from the filming at the Hengdian World Studios, November 12 - 17th.
(photos from Sina and Baidu blogs)

1. Michelle on set. Notice that she had the same hair style and dressed
the "same" as in the Xinjiang scenes - with much finer costumes.
The metal tipped shoes nearby are for use during horse scenes to prevent
the horse from accidentally stepping on actor's feet
2. in front of the Throne Room (Imperial Presenting Hall): the second left is Michelle. An
imperial officer can be seen at second right
3. Michelle's horse
4. a view of part of the Qin Palace square. For some of the scenes on the square
huge green screens were used, apparently for special effects shots

The Emperor's Throne Room (Imperial Presenting Hall) is one of
the important locations during the ancient part of the story
for The Mummy 3. The Throne Room related scenes were filmed
in both Hengdian and Shanghai. In the Shangahi Film Studio they had
the interior of the Throne Room and the furniture and decorations
were transferred to Hengdian right before the Hengdian filming.
At the Hengdian World Studios, they re-decorated the outside pillars (the dragon
patterns seen in several photos) of the Right Side Hall of the Qin Palace and
made it into the Throne Room. Inside the hall, one side was used
for the Throne Room and the other used for the Emperor's bedroom.
According to the reports, the M3 team did not have to pay rental fee for
the week long filming in Hengdian. Instead, the deal is that the production
team will leave all the furniture and decorations created for the film
there. The Hengdian
Studios believe they can make a good use of them for tourists, etc..
The set construction and decoration in Hengdian took over two months.

Another part of the story which was shot at Hengdian involved the Dragon Emperor
(Qin) invading and taking over the State of Chu. The first two pictures
below are the actor and actresses who play the King of Chu and his concubines.

(11/29/07)
These are more pictures from the Xinjiang filming on the 22nd and 23rd.
("67" photos)

"monks"

Michelle and Russell Wong's doubles

ready to shoot

According to the reports, the costumes which Michelle and Russell Wong's doubles wore
were pretty rough, since no close-ups were needed. The head eunuch, played by Chinese actor
Liu Tao, had the finest costume on Xinjiang set and they did do close-up shots
of him. And there were no fallen leaves in front of the Thousand
Buddha Caves and so the production team actually had to bring a big
bag of leaves in and scattered them on the ground to let the "monks" sweep them.

The story goes, reportedly, that Zi Yuan and Ming Guo went to a temple
there searching for a secret book in the temple's ancient depository
of manuscripts. The director wants
Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
to be the temple and Sugong Tower
as the depository. In the film we will see these two structures connected
together via digital special effects .

(11/27/07)
Yesterday we reported that a M3 team filmed in Xinjiang for two days last week.
Xinjiang scenes mainly involve Michelle and Russell Wong's characters:
they rode horses to a temple (Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves),
unaware that they were being followed by a head eunuch. In Xinjiang they filmed scenery shots,
long distance shots of Michelle and Russell Wong's doubles, and some extra scenes
such as monks sweeping a courtyard, etc.. The interior scenes of the temple
were filmed in the studios in Shanghai. Here are some photos from the Xinjiang filming:

(photos from "Nanfang Daily")

1. Zi Yuan and General Ming Guo stopping at the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
2. Zi Yuan and Ming Guo galloping pass the Flaming Mountain
3. Michelle's Xinjiang double (right, in costume). Reportedly the
same person also doubled for Jet Li in some horse scenes. On the left
is a smoking "monk". Talking about monks, does everyone know director Rob
Cohen will have a cameo in the film - as a MONK (at Shanghai set not Xinjiang)?

(11/26/07)
A press conference for The Mummy 3 was held on Monday November 26th
at the Shanghai Film Studio. Rob Cohen, Brendan Fraser, John Hannah,
Maria Bello, Luke Ford, and Isabella Leong attended the event and the
actors were in their makeup and costumes from the filming. Michelle,
Jet Li and Anthony Wong had finished their filming earlier and so were not
in Shanghai.

Some reporters (those without cameras) were allowed to view a 7
minute teaser trailer which was just made for the event. It started with
a large group of terra-cotta warriors, followed by a fight between
Brendan Fraser and Jet Li, a sword fight between Jet and Michelle,
Anthony Wong's gun fight with Fraser in snow mountains, Luke Ford's
kiss with Isabella Leong, Jet Li standing on his giant statue
waking up the Terra-cotta army... along with explosions, earthquakes,
avalanches......

Even though the shots had no special effects yet, reporters
said it looked more exciting than the previous two films.
The occasionally exposed wires did not bother reporters but they couldn't
resist asking the director why
Zhang Heng's Houfeng Seismograph,
which was invented in 132 A.D., appeared in the part of the story set in the period
of 200 B.C.. To the question director Rob Cohen answered that
it is a fantasy and they may not follow every historical detail,
and besides, he wanted to blend in more Chinese historical treasures to
show to the audience.

According to the reports, the Chinese characters portrayed by Michelle, Isabella
Leong, and Jet Li all looked very elegant and beautiful in the trailer, though
in their opinion Jet Li's Emperor did not look anywhere evil. They used some film
props to decorate the conference room, inlcuding a screen used behind Emperor's chair,
flags, and four bronze gongs.
Filming in China will wrap up in a few days.

(11/26/07)
- Finally, Vic Armstrong has got us a photo of Michelle as promised :-).
His blog
had a new entry "Bond Meets Mummy" with this photo - Michelle on her
last day with the M3 action unit (in Hengdian I think, the background
is the entrance of the Throne Room) and she was "surrounded by
all her friends from the Bond we did together TOMORROW NEVER DIES,"
said Vic, "these are my AD, camera crew and grips and we have done
many pictures together all over the world. It was lovely working
with her again she is such a beautiful person inside and out."
(Thanks Vic!!).
From L to R: Pete Field (camera operator), Terry Madden (1st AD), Ron
Nicholls (grip), Kenny Atherfold (main grip), Michelle,
Vic Armstrong, and Jonathan Taylor (DP).

- An M3 team appeared at Turfan (aka Turpan), Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of west China
and filmed there for two days on the 22nd and 23rd. According to "Xinjiang Daily",
director Rob Cohen was not in Xinjaing filming, nor any of the main cast members.
A group of people with some extras filmed at
the Flaming Mountain,
Sugong Tower, and
Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
which is located in the mystic Grand Canyon of the Tianshan Mountains.

- Anthony Wong has finished his parts in The Mummy 3. Many Chinese crew members
have done their work on M3 and left the project one after the other.

- Some pictures from Hengdian filming, November 13th. The first one shows the filming of
the "Che Lie" sequence. Russell Wong or his double can be seen in the center
(photos from "Shaoxing Evening").
Reportedly the right side hall of the Qin Palace set was changed into
the Emperor's bedroom which is in black theme as other buildings
of the Dragon Emperor.

(If the production company wondered how these pictures were taken after
extremely tight security has been enforced, in this case, the reporter
has given his account of the story - he bribed the guard of a side gate
with a pack of cigarettes.)

(11/23/07)
In addition to the Nanjing Road set and an Egyptian-themed bar we have mentioned, there are
also several other sets which are built inside the Shanghai Film Studio. The first photo we showed
on Nov. 7th is the lower part of the "Shanghai Museum"
where the terra-cotta Emperor will be awakened. Reportedly the finished building looks
similar to the Shanghai Exhibition Center. The interior scenes of the Museum were
actually filmed at a studio in Montreal.

The other indoor sets in Shanghai are for ancient scenes. They include
Emperor's Throne Room (interior), General's
Bedroom, a room to concoct pills of immortality, and the Emperor's
library. The four sides of the library
are stacked with all kinds of ancient books - carved on bamboo, bones, turtle shells, etc.. There is
a huge desk in the center of the room and the top of the desk can be opened by a remote control.
This is the place where Zi Yuan (Michelle) discovers a secret. The bedroom belongs to
General Ming Guo (Russell Wong). The magnificent room is decorated with fine embroidery
and more than 100 bronze candlesticks. A very large bed is placed in the center with
beautifully embroidered pillows and beddings. A pair of dragon-phoenix candles are
in front of the bed to light up a love scene.

- "Nanjing Road in the 30's" is one of the theme sets in the Shanghai Film Studio,
and it was originally built in 1994 for Chen Kaige's Temptress Moon.
The real Nanjing Road is Shanghai's principal shopping district.
In Shanghai, a portion of the architecture is in colonial European style
from the late 1800's through the 1930's.
Below are some photos from the M3 Nanjing Road set, taken at the beginning of the month
("Sina" blog).

(11/18/07)
Here are some set photos from Hengdian. Filming in Hengdian wrapped up in the morning of November 17th.

scaling ladder for attack

burning/burned books

a beheading scene was filmed here

slain bodies

arrows

(photos from Sohu blog)

(11/18/07)
The U.K. "ES Magazine" had an interview with Rachel Weisz in the
Nov. 16 issue. Weisz played Evelyn O'Connell, the librarian-cum-adventuress,
in the first two Mummy movies. Her decision not to reprise Eve's role
seems to be a part of being a mother. She's quoted saying "I would
have had to go to China for three months and I just can't travel like that any more."
(thanks Denzylle)

Actress Maria Bello has replaced Weisz for the character of Evelyn
O'Connell in The Mummy 3. In the story before their new
adventure begins, Rick and Evelyn have retired to Oxfordshire, England,
and [spoiler warning] Evelyn has published her new books
"The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns". In one scene one of her fans asks:
"Is the character in the books really you?" to which Evelyn answers:
"To tell the truth, I'm not the same person as her." (a pun)

(11/16/07)- On the Shanghai set, M3 production has been continuing shooting
night scenes in 1940s Shanghai. An average 400 extras were involved
everyday. They are aiming to wrap up China filming on November 28th.
- Famous Hong Kong car/bike stuntman and stunt coordinator Bruce Law
will be performing some incredible car stunts for M3.
Law worked with Michelle on Supercop
(co-Starring Jackie Chan) and Project S.
- They used Yuen Wo-Ping's wire team for wired action scenes with
Huan-Chiu Ku (Dee Dee)
as a martial arts choreographer.
- A report on the end of the Tianmo filming:
The fight between Jet Li and Wu Jing was shot indoor at the beginning
of November (1st and 2nd). Wu Jing plays one of the three assassins
who tries to kill the Emperor (in the ancient time). Many crew members
left Beijing for Shanghai by Saturday Nov. 3rd and at the same time
an aerial director and a director of aerial photography flew over
from the U.S.. Some Chinese/Hong Kong
assistant directors stayed longer for the aerial shoots in Tainmo.
There were more than 200 soldier extras (these are real soldiers
- they are in fact soldiers from Chinese People's Liberation Army).
They planned to shoot on Sunday and Monday morning but eventually
they had to squeeze all the actual shooting on the half day of
Monday. They only managed some rehearsals on Sunday which was the
day of the hotel Wei Quan incident.

(11/14/07)
M3 filming continued in Hengdian on the 14th. According to the Chinese
media, in the morning they filmed inside the Throne Room
with the characters of Michelle, Jet Li, Russell Wong,
along with some ancient senior military and civil "officers".
In the afternoon they filmed more galloping scenes. A report said it was
Michelle's double on the horse and the camera followed from behind.
They also continued filming the "Che Lie" scene. 300 "soldiers" were
doing the same thing as the day before: standing still on both sides
of the road.
Soon these "soldiers" will be replaced by terra-cotta warriors.
People were excited to see some terra-cotta warriors were carried from
a truck and placed on the square. They are painted in red and black,
very similar to those soldier extras.

Reportedly the battle scenes will be filmed at night.

soldiers

terra-cotta warriors

Michelle's double on white horse

more arrows on the wall

(photos from "Hangzhou Daily Express" and "Sina" blog)

(11/13/07)
The 13th of November was the first day of M3 shooting in the Hengdian
World Studios, Zhejiang Province.
Crew members and extras started arriving at the studios at 2:00AM and
the actual shooting didn't start until 7:00AM. There were about 300
"soldiers" standing on both sides of the road. The first scene shot was
Michelle's character galloping on a horse (some extras shouted Michelles' Chinese name
excitedly: "Yang Zi Qiong! Yang Zi Qiong!"). She ran back and forth
several times across the field. At one point the horse stopped
unexpectedly and refused to move. She got off the horse and nearly tripped
on her long robe trying to drag the horse into moving. It took about an hour
to finish the horse riding scene.

The second scene started about 9:00AM. This time it was Russell Wong
and Michelle's characters with a dozen of mounted troopers riding into
the city. It took another hour. After four or five hours of standing around wearing heavy
helmet and armor, the extras were so exhausted and many of them fell asleep on
the ground until their lunch boxes arrived.

In the afternoon they shot a sequence [spoiler warning]
where Russell Wong's character was pulled apart by horses -
it was one of the most brutal death penalties used in ancient China,
called "Che Lie", where the prisoner was torn asunder by five horsecarts (or
horses directly).
In the film they used eight horses. It was very difficult to shoot and they
repeatedly had to reshoot the scene so much the horses became exhausted,
a few even falling asleep. Crew members kept having to wake them up. Some western
assistants shouted to the half-awake horses: "Run! Run!" But the horses
didn't respond. Then some of the Chinese people reminded them
these are Chinese horses. So they shouted: "Pao! Pao!" After
more than 20 takes the shot was finally done.

There will also be some smaller scaled scenes shot inside the
Throne Room. Reportedly it will be the scene when
Zi Yuan is being presented to the Emperor.

- Michelle is now in Hengdian.
When director Rob Cohen said in his blog ("Shanghai, China") that he
finished filming with Michelle last weekend, apparently he meant her
scenes with him in Shanghai.

The Hengdian World Studios will be closed to the public from the 12th - 16th.
Here are some photos from Hengdian, November 12th. Group shooting didn't start
until the next day.

(photos from "Qianjiang Evening" and "Today Morning Express")

Photo decriptions:
1. a watchtower over a gate to a desert city. The gate will be
struck by a rain of arrows. The war chariot in front of the gate
was actually used in a Zhang Yimou movie and the M3 team has repainted
it from white to black.
2. the central gate is ready for shoots.
3. locals, many of them are farmers, lined up to be chosen as extras.
If chosen, they get 70 Yuan per day (about USD$9.5).
4. the chosen ones became ancient soldiers instantly (some taller ones get to
be generals - no photo).

(11/11/07)
A large number of the M3 team members have already arrived in the Hengdian World Studios. Hengdian filming starts
on the 12th. According to the reports, although the actual shooting will only take 4 or 5 days
and those shots may only show up in the final cut for a few minutes, the set construction and decoration
in Hengdian have taken about two months. Many Chinese crew members are surprised by how exquisite the props
look compared to what were seen on Zhang Yimou's or Chen Kaige's period productions shot
in Hengdian.

(11/11/07)
On November 9th, "Sina" reporters interviewed actor Brendan Fraser and producer Bob Ducsay
in Shanghai. Ducsay said there was a long pause after the second Mummy film until
they heard of the Terra-cotta warriors, which gave the filmmakers inspiration
to have another Mummy film.

Reporters said Fraser himself looks more dramatic than in his movies.
He talked about keeping balance between family and work.
Talking about working with Jet Li and Michelle, he laughed: "I'm
the good guy and Jet Li is the bad. Of course good guy wins!" And
he said Michelle "taught" him to beat Jet Li hard and he's following her
instructions and he thinks he did very well.

Here are some more tidbits from the Nov. 8 set visit (may contain minor spoilers):

- Asked why he chose Anthony Wong for his movie, director Rob Cohen
said he studied Asian movies and he liked the actor very much. He
thinks Wong is charming even when he plays a negative role. He has the
depth of a man, said Cohen. He had actually chosen another actor for
the role (Jane's note: Tony Leung Kar-Fei) since
initially Wong had a schedule conflict.
Four months after the preparation started Anthony Wong said he would
have time to play the role and the director was very happy to have him on the team.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Asked his opinion on Jet Li and Michelle
Yeoh's performances, the director said: "They are wonderful. The film
has two basic elements - reality and illusion and they could combine the two
so well and they make the movie real. I'm pleasantly surprised."

- Although their characters' affection and hatred span over 2000 years
and they may try to kill each other in the story, reporters described
that Jet and Michelle looked like "brother and sister" on set when not filming. But,
according to Michelle, "I call Jet Mei-Mei (little sister) and he calls me Ge-Ge (big brother)".
Jet Li "complained": "She bullied me all the time on set! I guess she's
getting her revenge on me for cutting her scenes out from Fearless.
I owe her for that." Michelle said she didn't mind that (being cut out).
"But didn't you see he stabbed me (in filming)?" she asked reporters jokingly.
Both of them said it's an easy shooting for them and they have been having
a great time. Michelle said there will be more drama than action scenes between them.
Asked if there will be any love scene between the two,
"Love scene? We are enemies," answered Michelle, "no love scene."
(It was hilarious to see dozens of Chinese news reports calling them
"Sister Jet Li and Brother Michelle Yeoh"...)

- Isabella Leong said she's very excited to be on this project. This
is the first action film for her. She said she didn't request using doubles
unless the director asked her so. Kissing with Luke Ford will be the first
on-screen kiss with a man for the 19 year-old.
Reporters asked Luke Ford how he thinks of Leong, and the young actor
said she is the most beautiful girl he has ever met.
Both Leong and Ford received four months of physical training for their roles.
Leong has an English teacher with her during the filming.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Isabella Leong was initially recommended to
the director by Michelle. Rob Cohen asked Michelle if she knows anyone
suitable for playing her daughter. Michelle said she had been in
Europe, America, and other countries most of the time for
the past couple of years and she's not very familiar with the younger
generation in the Hong Kong/China film industry these days. But the name of
Isabella Leong came to her mind. Michelle thinks Leong is a talented actress
with great potential.

- Reporters told Michelle that Luke Ford said he's very thankful for
her teaching him Mandarin Chinese. She almost choked when she heard
it (she was drinking water) and then laughed: "Teaching him Mandarin?
My own Mandarin is bad! I guess he thanked me because he didn't know
what I taught him." Everyone in the room laughed. Talking about
Michelle's Mandarin, comparing today to the time she was filming
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
when she had to memorize her lines literally sound by sound, Michelle
now answers in Mandarin all of the questions from the Mainland Chinese reporters.

- Jet Li said his character is not the Qin Emperor and the film story
is not taken from history. And he said he's not sure his character is good
or bad. "Am I bad? I'm just doing what an emperor does." He said.
"The emperor doesn't have a wife and loves only one woman."
Although it seems the story has been moved to 50 B.C. which would be
during Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.), all of
the Chinese media still refers Li's character as Emperor Qin.
In the early version of the script, the character was indeed Emperor Qin
(Qin Shi Huang). (see report of July 27)

(11/10/07)
Some of you may have already seen that director Rob Cohen has put another
new entry in the Mummy Production Blog.
He has finished Jet Li's scenes and he's finishing with Michelle
today (10th) with a love scene between Michelle and Russell Wong in
Shanghai. "Two more beautiful people were never created," said the director.

The 2nd unit (action unit) has finished Shanghai shooting and is moving to Hengdian. The main
unit will be finishing the chase sequence and some shots at IMHOTEPS.
Filming in the Hengdian World Studios will only last 4 or 5 days.

Rob Cohen confirmed that Michelle's character's name in M3 is
"Zi Yuan" (aka Ziyuan). "Zi" means "lilac / purple" and "Yuan" means "beautiful lady".
In the very early scripts the character was named "Zohora" (not a Chinese name), and it
was changed to "Zi Juan" at some point ("Juan" means "silk"). Hey why don't they simply
use Michelle's Chinese given name -- "Zi Qiong"? "Qiong" in Chinese means "beautiful jade".
:-)

There have been hundreds of media reports on the M3 production
from the Greater China region last few days. After the media set visit on November 8th,
on the 9th actor Brendan Fraser and producer Bob Ducsay
also accepted interviews in Shanghai. I will need bit time to sort out
the news reports. Keep tuned.

(11/09/07)
Great new M3 photos!
Most of them are from Montreal filming.

O'Connell family in action

Shangri-La beauties

Alex and Lin

(11/08/07)
Here are several newly released official Mummy 3 images.

Michelle Yeoh as Zi Yuan

Jet Li

Luke Ford

Isabella Leong

On November 8th, the production company organized a media set visit.
About 30 reporters from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and
South Korea visited the Shanghai Film Studios where the M3 production
is currently taking place. Rob Cohen, Jet Li, Isabella Leong, Luke
Ford and Michelle accepted interviews.

Director Rob Cohen said he is fascinated with China's culture and
geography. He described the Tainmo desert as "very beautiful and with
many layers". He is still dreaming of filming some big scenes in
Xian, the ancient capital of China where the Terra-cotta warriors were
discovered. He said he still hopes for permission to shoot
there might be granted. "My head is full of scenery shots from there.
It's so mysterious and beautiful." Cohen said they did a lot of research
and they are trying to combine a western-style adventure with Chinese
culture and history. He mentioned his film will not try to
make light of the fear and pain the characters will experience.
Instead, he would like to show the audience a realistic view of the
characters and their feelings.

Inside the Shanghai Film Studios, aside from the Nanjing Road set,
M3 team has also built an Emperor's palace and three side halls.
A scene which was being filmed on the day of the visit was an interior
scene at Emperor's palace, involving Jet Li and Michelle. Jet Li was
dressed in black armor while Michelle wore a yellow long dress.
[Big Spoiler Warning til end of the paragraph]
Michelle, with a very painful expression on her face and a stiletto
"stabbed" in her stomach, slowly slid against the wall down to the floor.
Jet Li hissed from between his teeth: "Now you can meet Ming Guo in hell!"
Suddenly, black liquid started coming out from his face. Terrified,
he turned and ran out. This is a dramatic scene where Jet Li's
Emperor forces Michelle to choose marry him or die. He stabbed
Michelle and a curse from her hit him.
It is the last time they face each other in the ancient time frame.

In addition to witnessing the scene filming mentioned above, reporters were also
treated with some film footage. The unfinished 4 minute long trailer shows
gun-shooting, kung-fu fighting, magic and romance. There is a lot of exciting action.
Since this is before the VFX is applied, some wires and blue screens could still
be seen. Reportedly they have already filmed about 500 action shots and 1800
non-action shots. The non-action part still needs 300 more shots.
(11/07/07)
Here are several more M3 production related photos from Chinese
websites. The first one is a building under construction inside
the Shanghai Film Studios at the beginning of October.
The other two are the interior design for a western-style building
in 1946 Shanghai.

A "crashed" plane. Photos taken around October 23-25 on the Tianmo set.

(11/05/07)
Actor Anthony Wong, who plays General Yang in the film, was seen in
Hong Kong on the 5th. He said he came back to visit his family
and also to see a doctor for his sprained hand. He's going to Shanghai
soon. Michelle may have already arrived in Shanghai.
(11/04/07)
According to "The Beijing News",
the M3 production team involuntarily got involved in a Wei Quan movement
in Beijing ("Wei Quan" is a new expression in Mainland China, meaning
civilians' struggle to defend their basic rights). Around 10AM
on Sunday November 4th, more than 100 protesters welled up into the
main hall of the 16-story Golden Holiday Hotel at Yanqing County, Beijing,
which the Mummy Tianmo team has occupied for the past few weeks. The protesters
locked up all the gates, carried a previous manager
out of a window, and announced that they have taken over the management of the hotel
and the hotel will be closed down for a week. Dozens of police were
called to the scene.

Back in 2002, more than 300 people bought ownership of the hotel
rooms but then they were cheated and did not get the benefits they were promised.
This was the third time in this year that the property owners had come to protest
and forced the hotel to close (the other two times were in March and August). Some Chinese
M3 team members went downstairs and requested the protesters not to disturb the filming
team. They had a brief conflict with the protesters.
Eventually a spokesperson from the new ownership committee agreed that they will provide
for the usual needs for the M3 team during their stay.

According to Chinese official statistics, in 2005, there was
a Wei Quan protest every 6 minutes in China. Evidence indicates that there were even more
protests in 2006. Because the "legal system" in China is controlled by the CCP
(Chinese Communist Party) and is so corrupted, the written "laws" mean
almost nothing. When the legal system does not protect their rights, many
civilians are forced to use other methods such as demonstrations or appealing to higher
officials in their attempts to safeguard their basic rights. But frequently
we see reports that individuals who came to appeal their cases to the highest
official in Beijing have been beaten, arrested, and even sent to forced labor camps, since
the communist government is doing everything they can to "show" the world a
"Harmonious China", especially with the Beijing Olympics on the way.

(11/04/07)
According to news from the Hengdian World Studios, The Mummy filming in Hengdian
will start on November 13th. The production company has asked the studio's actor
association to look for 300+ extras, perhaps as Emperor's soldiers. It is not clear which
unit will be filming there at the date.

the central gate of the Qin Palace transformed intothe gate to the desert city

different colored sands are carefully mixed to cover the ground

the Han Street set will turn into a sea of flames

(photos from "Dongyang", "Qianjiang Evening" and "Shaoxing Evening")

(11/01/07)
Here are several more photos from the Tianmo filming set. In the 1st photo,
those people you can see dressed in green are for special effects shots and are
most likely Terra-cotta soldiers-to-be. Reportedly there is another group
of special effects characters and that group all dressed in blue. In the
2nd photo we see Maria Bello in the middle. They had filmed a fight scene
with her character, holding a knife and battling with several
"green people". And in the last photo, finally we can see
clearly what was written on Anthony Wong's soldiers' armbands:
it's the Chinese character "Zu", which means "soldier" or "pawn".
Funny sign.

("Sina" and "163" photos)

In Shanghai, some Chinese reporters who disguised themselves as extras got
closer looks to the set and filming. The production team strictly requires all
extras to have proper IDs which many people don't usually carry with them.
For some of the group scenes they didn't have enough extras
and so the production team members were seen grabbing people from in front
of the studio. But many of these people could not do work as extras because
they did not have IDs.
There are at least 2000 sets of costumes for extras in Shanghai alone,
with styles ranging from western suits to Cheongsams and Chinese
cotton-wadded jackets. Goodies displayed in the shops on "Nanjing
Road" are largely real. One evening, they were filming
an explosion scene with the Emperor's bronze chariot rampaging down
the street. Extras had more than 10 tries. When "cut" was finally
shouted, some of the ladies in high heels were so exhausted they
simply went to sleep under the roadside trees. There have been
some accidents on set but no serious ones have been reported.
The Shanghai Film Studios will remain closed to the public
until November 30th.

Shanghai shooting has been basically taking place during the evenings/nights. Extras are
supposed to get paid for their previous day/night at around 5:00AM.
They were offered 90 Yuan (about USD$12) per day but frequently
they did not get their full pay or did not get paid at all.
Their Chinese "agents" used all kinds of "excuses" to reduce the payment,
for example: "Today the actual shooting was shorter than yesterday,"
"You won't get paid for only working one day,"
or, "You went to rest and it was against the rules." Some even lost
the 150 Yuan "earnest money" they were required to pay to the agents
as deposit. Reporters saw a poor girl who kept coming everyday and
hoping to get paid once. She even begged the agent to at least return her "earnest money"
but without success.

(10/30/07)
More behind scenes videos:
&nbsp &nbsp - Company Move, Tianmo China.
&nbsp a new clip from the Mummy Production Blog.
&nbsp &nbsp - Taimo set
&nbsp (02:45. in Mandarin)&nbsp &nbsp - Another video clip from the media set visit on
Oct. 26th. Watch
here or
here
&nbsp (05:20. in Mandarin).
There are more than 500 vehicles and 40 departments on the Beijing Tianmo set.
Signs (in both Chinese and English) for tents/trailers they showed
include "Stunt Training", "Extra Make up & Hair", "Wardrobe",
"AD & Production", and "Mummy 3 / Yang".
Michelle joked that she might not look very fresh for the interview,
since they had to get up around 4:00AM everyday.
Some Chinese crew members from the Shanghai set said they have been working
18 hours per day.

On the other Mummy filming set, at Shanghai Film Studios, the action unit
has been filming many dangerous action sequences such as chases
and crashes during nights.

(10/29/07)
Videos (may need to use IE to watch):
&nbsp &nbsp - Filimg of the sword fight
&nbsp (00:24)
&nbsp brief segments of the filming of the sword fight between Jet Li
and Michelle. The one on the right is Michelle. They were fighting on top of a broken wall
(and in one instance she actually fell).
&nbsp &nbsp - Michelle Yeoh: It's a joy to fight with Jet Li
&nbsp (03:00. in Mandarin)
&nbsp a Chinese TV news report on the media interview with Michelle
last Friday. They show some segments of the filming of their sword
fight, and also some funny scenes from their 1993's Tai Chi Master.

Michelle said it was such a joy to fight against Jet Li. They didn't need
much of rehearsal. Both of them
were very accurate and they could use full force in their combat.
Chinese media consider the fight between them - "the two superstars
of the Chinese language Kung-Fu cinema" - as one of
the biggest selling points of the film. People who witnessed the filming
described their fight was simply "brilliant".
Both of them fought for real. Their performances were so wonderful
that many times people couldn't help applauding at the scene.
Some people questioned why sometimes stunt doubles appeared at all.
An assistant director explained that actors need to rest and
there are cases that there was no need for both of them to be on
set all the time (e.g., if shooting close-ups for one of them).

In the film, Jet Li's character can shift into different shapes.
He plays an evil role but he looks handsome.
There are two different character designs for Michelle: one is
from the ancient period and another for the modern time. The pictures of
Michelle we have seen are from the later period. In another design she
is a fairy beauty. The fight with Jet Li will be the only fight
for Michelle in the film. We will see her in more non-action scenes than actions.

Tianmo filming will last until the beginning of November before the
main unit moving to Shanghai. Hengdian filming is scheduled to start at
the middle of November. Filming in China is expected to wrap up
at the beginning of December. They will probably also shoot some
scenes in the Canadian Mountains in the winter.

(10/26/07)
So far most of the set photos in China had been taken by reporters who
snuck onto the sets (one even disguised himself as a lunch delivery
boy in order to do so). On the 26th, the Chinese production company
organized the first media set visit in Tianmo. Reporters were
not permitted to go to the main filming spots or take photos of
actors in costumes. They were allowed to look around the
backstage. The production company also arranged media
interviews with Michelle (she was the only actor interviewed
during the visit).

Reporters interviewed Michelle in a tent on the filming set.
Michelle said everyone on the production team,
including Jet Li and herself, were very excited about the fight
between them. It's going to be a "real" fight and she will
not use any "magic". She said this is a film which combines east and west
and the director has good respect for Chinese culture. Asked about
Brendan Fraser, Michelle said he is a great actor
in both action and non-action scenes. According to the media reports,
Michelle and Jet Li's sword fight is "real" - there will be no
special effects there.

Fourteen years ago Michelle and Jet Li made the martial arts film
Tai Chi Master (U.S. title:
Twin Warriors). Since then Jet always considered Michelle as
one of his "brothers". Michelle recalled a funny story from that
time: when they were filming a dinner scene they both could not
hold back their laughter whenever they saw each other. They ended up spending
an whole evening just to get this simple non-action scene filmed. Now on the Mummy
set, when Rob Cohen sees the two of them joking and laughing together
all the time, he says he wishes he could understand Chinese.

Reportedly they have finished
filming the fight between Michelle and Jet Li. Hong Kong actor Anthony
Wong has already finished his part in Tianmo.

(10/25/07)
Filming of The Mummy 3 is taking place in Tianmo (Beijing) and Shanghai
simultaneously. In Tianmo, director Rob Cohen has been shooting the sword fight between
Michelle and Jet Li for the past two days, which is "nothing less than poetry,"
said the director in a new entry in
his blog.
"Such great stars of World Cinema, mano a mano against the desert mountainscape as the whole
battle roars behind them. This (is) a landmark day for me and my film."
On the 24th, in the morning they filmed Michelle fighting with Jet Li's double and in the
afternoon, Jet Li fighting with Michelle's double. A Chinese assistant director
said it is a very nervous experience for stuntmen when fighting with the real stars, since they are
so afraid to make any mistakes and cause any injuries to the actors.

The second unit has already started filming in Shanghai, on the "Nanjing Road"
set. For the last two days they have been filming night scenes. The
story happens around the Chinese New Year time and the big chase
will be sparkled with holiday fireworks.
They had spent more than three months decorating the whole road set in
the studios. However, some Chinese said the
set looks more like an overseas Chinatown than 1946 Shanghai. John Hannah runs
a Egyptian-themed bar called IMHOTEPS which is in a three-story building located
on the road.

Jet Li riding intofinal battle

Tianmo set

Gu Xuanzhao, an action choreographer

Shanghai "Nanjing Road" set

(photos from Rob Cohen's blog, "Sohu" and "Today Morning Express")

(10/23/07)
China's "Modern Express" had a set report from Tiamno filming on October
16 and 17. There were two Mummy teams in Tianmo
filming at the same time. The reporter visited Team B last Tuesday and
Team A on Wednesday. On the first day, Team B was filming slave workers
who died from building the Great Wall being thrown into a pile.
Next day the reporter followed Team
A, directed by Rob Cohen himself. The report described a scene with Michelle
and a small group that included Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello. They were
crouching behind a small sand dune and observing the emperor's tomb.
Then someone started to run forward while Michelle quietly retreated to
a different direction. She was described to wear a purple-yellow
colored long dress, carrying a sword. They also filmed some close-ups of
Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello shooting and waving shotguns.
Jet Li was not on the set last week but his doubles were. He has two
doubles, one stunt double and another for non-action scenes.

Michelle Yeoh(2000 years old!)

Fraser and Bello

ancient mounted troops

Anthony Wong's soldiers

director and a cameraman

Jet Li's double (for non-action scenes)

("Modern Express" and "Sohu" photos)

(10/23/07)
There have been more reports and photos from The Mummy 3 production.
On the Mummy Production Blog
a still image of Brendan Fraser battling Jet Li has been published.
I think it was taken during the Montreal shooting. Some Chinese
reporters visited Tainmo set last Sunday when the production team
took their break. They "discovered" another giant sculpture
of the emperor, also in ancient military garb, which is half buried
in sand. The Tainmo park has been closed to the public.
&nbsp ("Sohu" video)

Anthony Wong was on the set last week.
Jet Li joined Tianmo shooting on Monday. They filmed a scene
where Jet Li's emperor stood on his own statue, yelling and trying to
wake up his Terra-cotta army.
Soon they will be filming another big scene there - [Spoiler Warning]
Michelle the sorceress is going to raise the people who were killed
by the evil Emperor from the dead in order to fight with emperor's Terra-cotta force.

Jet Li vs Brendan Fraser

another statue of the Emperor

filming in Tianmo. In the photo at rightAnthony Wong's soldiers can be seen

(10/22/07)
Director Rob Cohen's
Mummy Production Blog
has been updated.
The colossal sculpture we have seen is actually Jet Li's emperor! The emperor's
5,000 Terra-cotta Warriors will have a big battle with the foundation army
which is led by Russell Wong who has been raised by the wizardress Michelle.

(10/21/07)
The second unit (action unit) has moved to Shanghai. One of the main
filming sets in the Shanghai Studios is the "Nanjing Road", decorated as
1946 Shanghai. A lot of footage will be shot there (including a big chase).
Also Jonathan Carnahan's IMHOTEPS, both the exteriors and the interiors,
will be shot in the studios.
Here are some photos from Chinese blogs:

a glance of the Nanjing Road set, Shanghai

martial arts actor Wu Jing in Tianmo

(10/19/07)
Photos from M3 production in Tianmo/Beijing: (1) Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello dodging arrows;
&nbsp (2) those bright yellow/green figures are for special effect shots.
(photos from "Sina" and Sean's Blog)

Reporters have not seen Jet Li on the set but caught his double
instead. Michelle left Beijing for Malaysia on Wednesday and stayed
there for two days in order to celebrate her father's birthday.

(10/18/07)
Actor Luke Ford has been seen on the Tianmo set. Vic Armstrong published a photo with him on his
blog. Vic is leaving Tianmo
and heading to Shanghai to prepare for a big chase sequence there. Although the main
unit will not be in Shanghai until late October, the Shanghai Film Studio
has already closed its doors to the public and they said they will ensure a secured
environment for the Mummy filming. Costume fitting for extras in
Shanghai will start on the 19th.

Meanwhile Chinese media sources have published more
photos from Tianmo, some involving extras. Besides the two main filming spots mentioned before,
reporters have also seen a beacon tower and a small portion of the Great Wall. Next to the
wall lie piles of "dead bodies" - a reflection of the cruelty of the evil Emperor.

The main unit uses 3 cameras (the action unit has 6) on set. It is
difficult to move large equipment on soft sand and a few times they
needed to use mechanical shovels to rescue the instruments/vehicles that got stuck. There are more than
300 vehicles and 700 workers on the filming set. Various sequences
- in ancient as well as modern times - will be filmed at Tianmo,
including the final battle.
(photos from "Sina" and Vic Armstrong's blog)

Luke Ford (M) with Scott Armstrong (L) and Vic's nephew James (R)

soldiers from Han(?) Dynasty

prisoners on death row

"dead bodies"

extras

the giant statue

beacon tower

(10/17/07)
Some scenes they have been filming at Tianmo involve an "exploration
team" at the tomb. Around the tomb, they have set up some explorer's
tents. Jeeps, shotguns, gasoline cans, dynamites, iron pots and kettles can be seen.
One of the scenes they shot on Wednesday was under the ancient wall.
An old style jeep was turned over.
[Minor Spoiler Warning]
The tomb exploring sequence should involve Luke Ford
(who may not be recognized by many Chinese).

Photos from Tianmo filming set:

the giant statue

ancient wall

upside-down jeep

explorers' camp site

carrying a Terra-cotta warrior

director's trailer

("Sina" photos)

(10/16/07)
There are two main filming sets that have been built for The Mummy 3 at the
Tianmo desert: a nearly 100 meter long ancient wall (for photos see report of
Sept. 7), and the entrance portion of the Emperor's TOMB.
Imitating ancient Chinese underground tombs in looks, this "tomb"
has been dug several meters deep into the desert. The entrance to the
tomb is right beneath the giant statue of an ancient general
(see the previous photo on Oct. 10).
The sequence of the discovery of Emperor's tomb will be filmed
there, I assume. Some of the tomb's interior scenes have already been shot
back in Montreal.

(10/15/07)
- Chinese martial arts actor Wu Jing (Jack Wu), who learned martial arts
from the same master as Jet Li, will have a cameo role in the film. He
said he will have a fight against Li in the film. Also pop
singer/actor Leng Zhongyi (Easy) will make a cameo.

- News from China said that China shooting by the main unit will start
on the 16th. A large group of crew members - from the United
States, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing - have been staying at a hotel
in Huairou County of Beijing, about one hour driving from Tianmo.

(10/10/07)
Filming in Tianmo started on Monday, although the main unit will not join until next week.

At left is a sneak photo from the Tianmo set - a giant statue of an
ancient general. It was taken last week by a crew member of
another film/TV production in the region.

The Tianmo filming set has been active
for about two weeks. Many tents have been set up on the desert for props
and make-up. Last week they were busy with preparations including
horse training and clothes-fitting for extras.

- These photos were scanned from a Chinese
news video
on Mummy's Hengdian set.

The set construction at Hengdian World Studio started in August.
As a gate of the desert city, the central palace gate of the Qin
Palace is given a different look - it's being covered by wood logs and
chips. The back square has been transformed into a desert. Roads and
grass are all covered by 5 to 10 cm of sand. Reportedly more than
3000 cubic meters of sand is used. Another filming spot in the studio,
Han Street, will be prepared in a different way: the gates and pillars will
be covered by metal for a fire scene.
Filming at Hengdian is currently scheduled in November.
(see early photos of Qin Palace).

According to Chinese media, Tianmo (Beijing) filming will last about 3 weeks.
Then 2 weeks in Shanghai. Hengdian filming will only take several days.

- Chinese actor/director Liang Tian will play a small role in The Mummy 3.
He told reporters that his role is an eunuch. Liang joined Montreal
shoots in early September.

(10/04/07)
Yesterday a Hong Kong radio programme featured an interview with Isabella Leong.
Talking about her Mummy 3 filming experience, Leong said she shares
many scenes with Michelle. She said Michelle is a great actress.
"Even it was a close-up of me only, Michelle would stay next to me to help
me to get into the character. I really enjoy working with her." She
said Anthony Wong has helped her a lot too. She had not filmed with
Jet Li yet. Leong said she has filmed many wired scenes. It
was uncomfortable and she has got bruises all over her body. But
she also has gained some weight due to good food and rest.

(10/02/07)
Production photos of The Mummy 3.
[updated 10/08]
Maria Bello's photo has been replaced with a version that an
interesting background can be seen (click on the photo).

Michelle and Isabella Leong

Brendan Fraser

Maria Bello

Finally we've got a photo of Michelle on the Mummy set, in her Shangri-La robe!
It confirms my earlier suspicion - that in the "Why Film" video,
they showed a bit of filming of a Michelle scene (see second picture of the last update).

In the new update, director Rob Cohen said that Jet Li has joined filming.
They have been filming their "trekking through the Himalayas" sequence
where the heroes are fighting and searching for Shangri-la.
The production in Montreal will wrap up next Thursday.
Visit Rob Cohen's Blog
and read more.

Michelle finished her Montreal part last week. She's going to meet the team
again in China.

(P.S. And I'd like to thank the director for linking this site on his blog!)

(09/28/07)Why Film:
a video clip featuring crew members talking about the production. Looks to me
they were on the Shangri-La set. September 24, Montreal.

("Rob Cohen's Blog". video scans)

(09/24/07)
Started back in July, there have been quite a few Chinese
advertisements for The Mummy 3,
looking for special actors, models, and extras. These roles have included
"dancers", three young women whose height is 166cm to be "Emperor's concubines",
"westerners - adults and children", and "a very strong man whom
to be beheaded"... Reportedly there will be more than 1000 Chinese
technicians and workers working for the production. At this moment,
there is a call for a LARGE number of extras (all types) for filming
in Shanghai around October 23rd.

(09/23/07)
Having finished the Shangri-La "Gateway" battle (some photos and
videos have been published previously), last Monday in Montreal
they started filming Shangri-La scenes, including a fight sequence.

Vic Armstrong said in his blog that he's heading to China this coming week
to shoot Ariel and visual effect footage in Tianmo, where the climatic
battle scene eventually will be shot. Meanwhile the Montreal shooting
will carry on with the stunt crew headed by Mark Southworth with Mike
Lambert and Scott Armstrong (Vic's son). The main team will move to
China around 5th of October. Tianmo shooting is scheduled to
last until mid to late October before moving to Shanghai and then Hengdian.
Some (unconfirmed) reports also said some filming will take place
in the regions of Dunghuang and Inner Mongolia.

Michelle has been in Montreal for more than two weeks. Someone spotted
her in Montreal Chinatown this morning, having dim-sim with
Anthony Wong and a few other friends.

Russell Wong, who plays Michelle's lover, will not be in Montreal
and he will only be joining the China filming.

There is no report on whether Jet Li has started filming. All I
have heard is that he was not in Montreal a week ago.

(09/15/07)
Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong's character in Mummy 3 is General
Yang, a military zealot who intends to awaken the Mummy Emperor and
aid him in the re-conquest of China and the raising of his terra cotta
army. This part of the story is set in 1946. Wong will speak both Chinese and English in the film.

The Mummy Stunt Team: Yang's Soldiers:
a video of the Canadian/Asian (Canasian) stunt team during their last shooting day (September 7)(from Rob Cohen's Mummy Blog).
The stuntmen are from Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. As General Yang's soldiers they have been beaten, kicked and thrown by Yeti's, shot by the heroes, fallen of the cliff and engulfed in a huge avalanche.

(09/11/07)
While attending the 64th Venice Film Festival promoting
her new film Far North,
Michelle said that although she liked to act in romantic
roles, she missed the exciting feeling of "kicking ass"
and she was eager to join the Mummy 3 filming.
"The Kung-fu Michelle Yeoh returns!"

(09/11/07)
Actress Maria Bello talked about her role in Mummy 3 to the media
at the Toronto Film Festival: "She has the same name, but she's a very
different character than Rachel played," said Bello. "She's a bad-ass
action chick. I had to train a lot... I've taken months of wushu and
karate training. I swing off chandeliers and run around with a
Winchester rifle in the Himlayas, so I'm having a blast." Bello
said doing an action role is her dream. The blond actress has dyed
her hair brown to star as Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell, originally played by Rachel Weisz.

Mummy set construction: ruins of a palace or
a portion of the Great Wall

building the "ruins"

there will be horses in Tianmo
scenes but these horses are perhaps not

an artificial tree

field under construction

(photos taken on August 19)

Located in a western suburb of Beijing, the Tianmo desert links together the
Badaling Great Wall and Kangxi Grassland. It has two grand sand dunes with
spectacular views and it is also a tourist spot for activities such as sand skiing, horse and
camel riding, and mini-jeep driving.

The film set for The Mummy 3 is being built east of the
grand sand dunes (and can be seen from the top of the sand dunes),
about 25 minutes of (not fast) horse riding from the
entrance of the park. These photos
were taken (while on horse back) during my trip to Tianmo on
August 19th. The Tianmo area is a famous outdoor base for film and
television. The locals were quite eager to show the "big set
for a Hollywood movie" though I was told not to get too close
to the set since dogs are used to patrol the area (yes I saw
guard dogs there).

Tianmo shooting is scheduled to go from early October to the end of the month.

(09/05/07)
According to Chinese media, filming in the Shanghai Film Studio will
mainly take place on the "Nanjing Road" set (a big chase). Several
websites published advertisements calling for actors and large numbers of
extras in Shanghai.

(09/04/07)
I'm back. We're missing quite a few updates and here is the first
round:

-
Director Rob Cohen started a
Mummy Blog,
revealing some details of the film.

-
Some filming is scheduled to take place this month at the Terra-cotta Warriors
Museum in Xi'an, an ancient capital of China and a top tourist attraction.
Chinese media reported that only some background shots will be filmed there, without
any main actors being present.

-
Michelle is expected to join the Montreal filming on September 6th.

-
Here is a
video
report (in French) on a temple set,
which is supposed to be high in the Himalayas on the way to Shangri-La.

-
Some set photos from Montreal:

(1) Mummy set construction on the parking lot outside Mel's Cite du Cinema studios in the Technoparc
(2) the "Himalayas" temple set
&nbsp (3)(4) Rob Cohen and Vic Armstrong in the courtyard of the temple
(photos from "LCN", "Canada" and Armstrong's blog)

(08/16/07)
More information on the Mummy production:
- Jonathan Carnahan's IMHOTEPS will be shot in the Shanghai studios
for both the exteriors and the interiors.
- The Shangri-La sequence will be filmed at Mel's Cite du Cinema in Montreal.
- Scenes about ancient China will be filmed in Chinese (with English subtitles).
Heard that Jet Li's character will speak only Chinese in the film
while Michelle's will speak both Chinese and English.
- The Emperor is not being referred by a specific name (Qin or Han)
at the moment and it is a "work in progress".
Some of the information is from "conversations" with Vic
Armstrong (thanks Vic!).

[NOTE]
I'm going for a vacation. Most likely there will be no update before
September 4th. See ya later!

(08/15/07)
Canadian news reported that Quebec actor Albert Kwan will play a minor role,
Chu Wah, the character who discovers the entry of the tomb where
the Mummy emperor rests. He will join the shoot for four days in
Montreal and two days in China. Kwan will share scenes with Luke Ford,
who plays the son of Rick O'Connell.

(08/13/07)
According to news from the Hengdian World Studios, a team of The Mummy 3
crew has arrived in Hendian for the set decorations/construction
at the Emperor Qin Palace set (an earlier report and
some set photos can be seen on news of June 28).
The 4-dragon fountain, central lawn, and a few other places will be remodeled.
Some new film sets will be built. Filming in Hengdian is scheduled for
late October or the beginning of November. Some scenes that
were originally planned for filming in west China will be shot at Hengdian.

Shanghai Film Studio, located in Chedun, Shanghai, will be one of
the filming locations for The Mummy 3 as well. Preparation
in Shanghai started last month.

(08/07/07)
"We are now starting our 3rd week of shooting and have finished one of
the larger set pieces which is the prelude to our big chase sequence
that we will shoot in Shanghai China in November. The sequence here in
Montreal went very smoothly and Rob Cohen the director galloped
through everything on schedule. We did some great fights and have set
the tone for the rest of the movie." said Vic Armstrong.

John Hannah has not arrived yet. Michelle (most likely Jet Li
too) will not join the filming until next month.

(08/06/07)
Gigantic sets for The Mummy 3 have been built at the Mel's Cite
du Cinema studio near the Bonaventure motorway in Montreal.
Some scenes will be filmed at the Rivire du Nord (North River).
Filming in the metropolis will continue until October 10, according
to the local reports.

(08/01/07)
Yesterday they were shooting some action scenes involving
Isabella Leong and had her swinging on ropes and fighting.
"She is dynamite and totally courageous." said Vic Armstrong.
Michelle and Jet Li have not joined the filming in Montreal yet.

Reportedly the Montreal filming will last until around October 5 before
the team heads to China. China's Great Wall will be featured in the
story and they plan to shoot in the vicinity of a very ancient part of the
Great Wall, which is not a common tourist spot. Some shoots will take
place in the Tianmo Desert, 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Beijing.

(07/30/07)
Information rounds-up:
- The shoot in China is planned to take place in Beijing, Shanghai
and at The Hengdien World Studios towards the end of the year.
- Michelle's big fight with Jet Li is set to be shot in China.
- Russell Wong, Jet Li, and Michelle will be involved in some
horse riding scenes.
- Snow scenes are planned to be shot in Canada to simulate The Himalayas.

(07/27/07)
Principle photography started yesterday in Montreal, according to Vic
Armstrong, the second unit director and action coordinator.
Filming will move to China at the beginning of October.

Various sources have reported that the release date of the film has been
rescheduled for August 1st, 2008.

(07/27/07)
Thanks to DarkKnight4, I have got an early version of the script which
is marked "Second Draft, August 19 2005", by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

It has already been revealed on internet that the later version(s)
have many changes and rewrites to some of the main characters, though the early
script still gives the flavor and main storyline of the future film.

In this early version, the evil mummy emperor is Qin Shi Huang, the
first emperor of China's Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC).
"His thirst for power was unquenchable
and his army was a merciless killing machine. He vowed not to rest
until he had conquered the entire world." says the voice of a narrator
in the script.

Newer reports suggest that filmmakers have changed the identity of
the emperor and named him "Emperor Han" (which is confusing IMO.
Han could be a Chinese last name, but also could be a name
of a Dynasty - Han Dynasty (206BC to 220AD)). The reason, reportedly,
is that some Chinese are upset that Qin Shi Huang, who unified
China for the first time, would be presented as an evil figure.

In fact, for 2000 years of Chinese history, Qin Shi Huang, one of the most
influential figures in history, has always been regarded as a
symbol of tyranny. Emperor Qin's policy for rule
had four main aspects: excessively heavy taxation; wasting
human labor for projects to glorify himself; brutal torture under
harsh laws and punishing even the offenders' family members and
neighbors; and controlling people's minds by blocking all avenues of
free thinking and expression through banning and burning books and
even burying many scholars alive.
Qin Shi Huang's harsh treatment of his people is only appreciated
by the Chinese communist leaders (unfortunately, some young Chinese
who learned about Qin Shi Huang only from communist text books have
adapted to this twisted view). Three infamous periods in Chinese history
when the government systematically persecuted intellectuals are: the Emperor Qin's,
the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and also the communist era
(1949-now).
Mao Zedong, a former leader of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
said openly: "What can Emperor Qin Shi Huang brag about? He only killed 460
Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000 intellectuals."
Under the 57 years of the CCP's brutal rule over China, 60 to 80 million
innocent Chinese people have been killed, due to various
"political movements".

(07/18/07)
The title of the film has been confirmed to be The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,
instead of "Curse of the Dragon" as reported earlier.

(07/18/07)
Hong Kong actor
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
(Kau in The Heroic Trio.&nbsp
[note] this is not the same Anthony Wong
who played Ghost in The Matrix Reloaded)
and Taiwanese model Jessey Meng are now in Montreal rehearsing for the film,
according to Hong Kong media.

There have been more Chinese reports on the casting of The Mummy 3.
Singer Regina Wan was invited for screen test to play a popular singer
in 1930's Shanghai. The singer role will have some kind of relationship with
Jet Li's character, according to the media reports. 70 year old Chinese actor
Zhou Zongyin was invited to play an old man in the Mummy film,
as Jet Li's father. Reportedly the established actor is thinking
not to take the role because (1) there is only one scene
for the role, (2) after long explanations he still doesn't
get whether the role is positive or negative, and (3) he barely
watches any Hollywood films and he's not confident he could act in one.

Also, Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Kar-Fei dropped out of the negotiations
due to possible schedule conflicts, said his agent.

(07/17/07)
Actors including Brendan Fraser and Isabella Leong have been in
Montreal rehearsing their fight scenes. Jet Li will get to there
later in the year, according to Vic Armstrong.
Speaking of Michelle, Armstrong said:
"She should arrive here any day, I
am really looking forwards to seeing her again as she is the BEST to
work with and has tremendous guts and toughness which is amazing
because she is so delicate to look at. She has some big fights in
MUMMY 3 and has to tackle Jet Li so that should be momentous."
Armstrong worked with Michelle
in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies. He was the second unit
director and stunt coordinator for films including
The World Is Not Enough, Charlie's Angels,
War of the Worlds and Mission: Impossible III.
He was also a stunt double for Harrison Ford in the first two
Indiana Jones films. His wife, Wendy Leech, was a stunt double
for Michelle in Tomorrow Never Dies.

(07/16/07)
Vic Armstrong, the second unit director and action coordinator for
The Mummy 3, said in his
blog
that after the China scout in mid-June they have been preparing for
the film in Montreal. They started fight rehearsals early this month.
Mark Southworth is a stunt coordinator and Mike Lambert a fight coordinator.
Vic Armstrong's youngest son, Scott Armstrong, will be a stunt double
for Luke Ford.
There will be a big chase sequence through 1946 Shanghai and shooting
in China is scheduled to start in October. Bruce Armstrong, Vic Armstrong's
eldest son, will do stunt driving for the filming.

(07/05/07)
According to China's "Sina", Isabella Leong, the actress who plays
Michelle's daughter, flew to Montreal July 4th for preparation
of the film. Since the casting of Leong has not been officially announced,
Leong's agent only confirmed she was in Montreal but declined to comment
on the reason she is there.

Since the majority of the story happens in China, the production
company is hiring a large number of Chinese actors and crew members.
Hong Kong media reported that most of the experienced film crew members
in Hong Kong are working on Hollywood productions, including
The Forbidden Kingdom and The Mummy 3, which in a way
affects the Hong Kong film industry negatively - many low budgeted
local productions are facing problems of getting good film crews.

(07/01/07)
American actor Russell Wong
will play Michelle's lover in Mummy 3. Wong's wife told Chinese
media: "He plays a positive role in the film, Michelle Yeoh's lover. He will
have some martial art scenes." "Will he be a mummy?" asked a reporter. "No,"
answered Wong's wife. Russell Wong's father is Chinese-American and his mother
is Dutch-American. Russell Wong co-starred with Jet Li in Romeo Must Die.
His brother, Michael Wong, co-starred with Michelle in Royal Warriors.

(06/28/07)
In the middle of the month, a group of 40+ people from Universal, including
the director, art director, photographer and producers, visited the Hengdian
World Studios in south-east China (Zhejiang Province). Local "Jinhua News"
reported that the production company has chosen the Emperor Qin Palace
set as one of the filming locations. The main shooting spots will include
the West Side Hall, Central Palace Gate, and Qin-Han Street. Some
modifications will be done for the Central Palace Gate in order to
fit with the film story. According to the report, Qin Palace filming
is expected to take place in late October or early November. Set
decoration will start 45 days prior filming starts.

Occupying an area of 220,000 square meters with a construction area of
110,000 square meters,
the Emperor Qin Palace set was originally built in 1997
for the filming of Chen Kaige's history film Emperor and the Assassin.
Since then more than 100 film and TV productions have been filmed there,
including Zhang Yimou's Hero and Chen Kaige's The Promise.
The square in front of the palace can fit more than 10,000 people.

Below are some photos of the Qin Palace, the Hengdian World Studios.

central palace gate

side hall

corridor

inside

Han style buildings at the Qin-Han Street

replicas of Terra-cotta warriors and
horses

(06/24/07)
- John Hannah said in his interview with ITV
that he will be returning to the Mummy sequel.

- Chinese media reported that Hong Kong martial art actor Donnie Yen (Hero, Wing Chun,
Butterfly & Sword) was invited for a role in the Mummy film but he
decided not to take it. He said he rejected several Hollywood offers since
he did not like to keep playing negative Chinese roles in Hollywood movies.

(05/23/07)
When Hong Kong reporters interviewed Michelle on the 22nd in Cannes
(photos in News),
they asked her opinion on Isabella Leong's boarding. Michelle said
she has not heard about the new casting and she thought it was
Crystal Liu. She added that Isabella Leong is a very talented actress.
Leong's agent confirmed she had gone through the screen test
but declined to comment further. Reportedly Crystal Liu's agent is
still trying to find a way to fit her schedules in.

(05/22/07)
Hong Kong and Taiwanese media reported that the daughter of Michelle's character will
be played by Isabella Leong (aka Leong Lok Si), a 19 year old Hong Kong
based Macau born singer, actress and model. The production company
previously considered Crystal Liu but apparently the shooting schedule of
The Mummy 3 will be conflicting with Liu's filming of
The Forbidden Kingdom which won't end until the end of August. According
to Hong Kong media, other Hong Kong actresses who took the screen test
for the role include Myolie Hu, Linda Chung, Bernice Liao, and Fiona Sit.

(05/16/07)
"THE MUMMY 3 starts shooting at the end of July in Montreal and then
China for release next summer. It stars Brendan Fraser, Jet Li,
Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford and John Hanna. The character of Evy will be
recast with another actress [Maria Bello]," script writer Alfred Gough
told "iF Magazine".

(05/10/07)
Chinese media reported that 19 year old actress Crystal Liu (aka Liu Yifei) is one
of the strong candidates for the role of Michelle's daughter, the guardian of
the emperor's tomb. Liu's agent confirmed that she has gone through a screen test
with the production company and the reactions were very good. She has not signed
on yet. Crystal Liu started her screen career in a Chinese TV series at the age of
15, and she is currently filming The Forbidden Kingdom with Jackie Chan,
Jet Li, and Li Bingbing (Michelle's co-star in Silver Hawk).

(05/10/07)
According to Canadian "The Gazette", the film crew is already in pre-production
in Montreal. Filming begins there July 27 and is expected to
occupy several sound stages at Mel's Cite du Cinema studio
through to the end of the year. It is estimated that the producers
will hire between 800 and 900 local technicians to work on the project.

Part of the production will also take place in China. Reportedly shooting
in Xian (Shaanxi province) starts at the end of August and will last more than 10 days.
So far no shooting is planned at the Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors
and Horses in Xian. Some Terra-cotta army related scenes are expected
to be filmed at the Hengdian World Studios in south-east China
(Zhejiang province), according to Chinese media.

(05/06/07)
Aside from an actress to replace Rachel Weisz for Rick O'Connell's wife
Evelyn, currently the production company is also looking for more Asian
actors for various roles in the film. One of them is the character of Michelle's
daughter. According to Taiwan's "UDN", as Alex O'Connell's love interest,
the young actress doesn't have to have much martial arts skills but
must be fluent in English. Reportedly pretty much all known young actresses
and models in greater Chinese regions are being considered. At the moment
it's the company's secret whom they have tested.

A week ago Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Kar-Fei (The Myth, Zhou Yu's Train)
told Chinese media that he's in talks with the project. Production in China will
partially take place in Xian during August and September. Reportedly
the director and producers visited Qin Emperor's Terra-cotta Museum in Xian
early this year.

(05/04/07)
"ISEB.net" published a DETAILED story from a recent version of the script
of The Mummy 3, which is claimed to be dated March 19. Here is
a list of the main characters from the script:

The full story is
here.
I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want to know
a VERY detailed story right now. Though most likely it is not the
final version of the shooting script, the story line should be
quite the same.

(05/01/07)
Michelle is confirmed to star in The Mummy 3.

Entitled The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon, the Universal
Pictures' film will be directed by director Rob Cohen. Brendan Fraser
returns to this third installment of the Mummy series as Rick O'Connell,
and 26-year-old Australian actor Luke Ford will play his son, Alex O'Connell.
They journey "into the forbidden tombs of China and into the Himalayas,
where they run into a new shape-shifting mummy, a former Chinese emperor
who was cursed by a female wizard." Michelle will play the wizard and
Jet Li will be the Mummy, reported "Variety".

According to Hong Kong media, Jet Li's role will be the main villain
of the film - an Emperor of China. The story
starts in ancient times before moving to a post-World War
II setting. In 1940s, O'Connells has an adventure in China.
There they meet the Mummy (Jet Li), who leads an army of Terra-cotta warriors
which comes alive and wants to take control of the world. In the story,
Michelle, a character with extraordinary power and wisdom, fights with the
Mummy Emperor and helps O'Connells to escape and saves the world.

This will be the second film uniting Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, the best martial
arts actor and actress working today. In 1993, they made the Hong Kong
martial arts film Tai Chi Master(U.S. title: Twin Warriors)
with director/action director Yuen Wo-Ping.
(Michelle made a cameo appearance in Jet Li/Yuen Wo-Ping's Fearless
which was released last year. But she had no action scenes and her character
was not included in the theatrical release.)

Director Rob Cohen is evidently fascinated with Chinese martial arts. He
directed 1993's Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. He was also planning to do
a new Bruce Lee film which would use CGI and existing footage to bring
the legend alive again.

Actor Brendan Fraser played the main lead Rick O'Connell in the first two
"Mummy" films. In June 2005, when Fraser was in Shanghai attending a film
festival, he told Chinese media that the third "Mummy" film was under
development and a big part of the story may happen in China. At
that time he was attached to Roger Spottiswoode's World War II drama
Children of Huang Shi,
starring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle (coming out at the end of this
year). Fraser told reporters that he is a big admirer
of Asian films and loves Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and
he's really looking forward to working with Michelle and Chow Yun-Fat.
Eventually Fraser was not able to do the film due to schedule problem.

Shooting of Curse of the Dragon begins in Montreal on July 27, and then
will move to China. Besides emperor's tomb, it may also feature China's Great Wall and mythical
Shangri-La.
The highly anticipated "Mummy" sequel is scheduled for release on July 11, 2008.

P.S.: - The first two "Mummy" films, The Mummy (1999) and
The Mummy Returns (2001), grossed $841 million worldwide and spawned
the spinoff The Scorpion King. - Actress Rachel Weisz, who played Fraser's love interest in the
first Mummy movie and his wife in the second, won't be returning for
The Mummy 3.
- More on Terra-cotta warriors (articles/pictures):
WikipediaRegent- For 2000 years of Chinese history, Qin Shi Huang (260BC-210BC), one of the most
influential figures in history and who unified China for the first time,
has always been regarded as a symbol of tyranny. Emperor Qin's policy for rule
had four main aspects: excessively heavy taxation; wasting
human labor for projects to glorify himself; brutal torture under
harsh laws and punishing even the offenders' family members and
neighbors; and controlling people's minds by blocking all avenues of
free thinking and expression through banning and burning books and
even burying many scholars alive.
Qin Shi Huang's harsh treatment of his people is only appreciated
by the Chinese communist leaders (unfortunately, some young Chinese
who learned about Qin Shi Huang only from communist text books have
adapted to this twisted view). Three infamous periods in Chinese history
when the government systematically persecuted intellectuals are: the Emperor Qin's,
the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and also the communist era
(1949-now).
Mao Zedong, a former leader of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
said openly: "What can Emperor Qin Shi Huang brag about? He only killed 460
Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000 intellectuals."
Under the 57 years of the CCP's brutal rule over China, 60 to 80 million
innocent Chinese people have been killed, due to various
"political movements".